


I Call The Shots

by ClothesBeam



Series: I Call The Shots [2]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Multi, Suicidal Thoughts, Turtlecest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 08:12:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 31,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14304507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam
Summary: In a desperate bid to save what remains of their father's life, Leo gets himself into debt with the woman who hates him most.If it means saving Leo from himself, Don will tear Karai and her clan apart.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ~~Why am I starting another multi chapterrr~~
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Please do heed the warnings, tags and the rating. They'll probably need to be updated as the story progresses since my plot plans are never that detailed, so be aware this may turn into something you don't want to read.
> 
> Suicide in the context of the bushido ideology is a pretty big theme later on in the story. Please understand that any apparent justification for it is a reflection of the characters and not my own opinion, nor is it meant to influence yours.
> 
>  
> 
> **This work is intended for adults only.**

Don gently closed the door to his bedroom and sighed softly. He pressed a hand against the smooth grain of the wood as his eyes drifted shut. Like all the others before, their thirty-first ‘birthday’ had been a rowdy one. But now Don was ready to retreat to his own space and his own thoughts again, dark as they sometimes may be.

The vision of the terrible future he’d seen all those years ago still haunted him now and then. But they _had_ all managed to get this far without him mysteriously disappearing _and_ without the Foot taking over the world. If there was terror in their future yet, at least it couldn’t be identical to what he’d already experienced. The Shredder was dead now, for a start. Even if Karai had taken up the mantle…

Don shook his head slightly and turned away from the door, trying to divert his thoughts to a lighter topic. Dinner had been great, as always, even if Leo had had to help their father retire to his room a little sooner than they’d have liked. Then their oldest brother never returned to the meal, and still had yet to emerge from their father’s room. Not that Mikey and Raph would’ve noticed that yet, since they’d disappeared into one of their rooms after Mikey had whispered something to Raph about what else he wanted for his birthday.

Their father had become ill last year, and never really recovered. At some point Leo had started running more and more of their training sessions, until eventually their father simply observed from the sidelines, occasionally stopping one of them to discuss a flaw in their technique or give specifically tailored advice one on one.

Medicine wasn’t exactly Don’s specialty, and he felt acutely let down by the shortcoming of his genius that prevented him from figuring out what was wrong and how to fix it. For all he knew, the effects of the mutagen were wearing off and his father’s DNA strands were unravelling. Or maybe he was simply too old. He’d far outlived a rat’s average lifespan, so maybe it wasn’t too surprising that he was going to pass away a lot sooner than a human would. Then again, Sensei had to have been old for a rat when he was mutated, so maybe he was actually lucky to have even made it this far.

Don made his way over to his bed and propped his pillow up against the wall so he could sit comfortably. It was tradition that they weren’t supposed to do any work on their birthday (except for that one time the fridge broke down and their ice-cream cake would have melted otherwise), so instead of the lab or the garage, he’d chosen to retreat to his bedroom for some quiet time.

Don flicked on the lamp on his bedside table and picked up the book he’d been reading as he settled into the seat he’d made for himself. _Debt: The First 5000 Years_ was something he’d chosen at random for the sole reason that it was unrelated to his usual interests. Though he did like reading about history and anthropology, including anything that discussed the underlying reasons for why the society they lived in, or rather lived around, was the way it was. At first he’d assumed the book was just about economic theory, but he was glad to find out he’d been wrong.

Don only managed to get through a few pages before he heard a soft knock at his door. He marked his place and looked up, already fairly certain of who it was. “Come in.”

Leo moved silently, as always, gently closing the door behind him before approaching the pool of light emitting from Don’s lamp. Don frowned slightly when he noticed his brother’s expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as he put his book down and shuffled over, making it clear he wanted Leo to sit next to him.

Leo did so, keeping his gaze fixed on his hands. “I’m getting worried about the condition our father is in. He has started talking to me like he’s preparing me for his passing.”

Don felt a mild sense of guilt about the fact he was sitting here reading about anthropology instead of trying to do more, even if there wasn’t much he could feasibly do. Leo normally handled this sort of thing on his own, preferring to shut them out until the worst was over. Leo coming here now meant he wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything more Don could do.

“I don’t know, the mutagen makes our condition difficult to predict,” he began. But Leo interrupted him as soon as he got the chance.

“Surely there’s someone who can help us with this. Leatherhead? Honeycutt?”

Don glanced away, contemplative. “I can consult them, but their specialties are also more focused on engineering. Maybe an Utrom would know more about the long term effects of the mutagen? To be honest, it wouldn’t hurt to talk to a vet about our father’s current condition, either.”

“I’m afraid we might have already put this off for too long,” Leo admitted. “It’s so hard to believe our father could be overcome by anything.”

It worried Don as well. If their father was preparing to leave, it meant he could sense his time was going to be up soon. So perhaps that meant his age was the only factor behind his condition, but still…

“I’m sorry, I should have paid more attention to how quickly he was deteriorating and done more...”

“That’s not what I meant, Donny,” Leo corrected. “This isn’t your fault, I’m not trying to blame you for anything. It’s just that if we are going to do anything to attempt to prevent this, we need to act now.”

That didn’t stop him from feeling bad about his inaction. Don wrapped an arm around Leo’s shoulders, and his brother shuffled around to tuck himself into his side with his head resting under his chin. It occurred to him that Leo wasn’t just sad, he was also scared of what was going to happen next. Such a huge change to their family unit would shake things up, possibly to the degree they’d been when the team had first been officially formed in their teenage years. And that had nearly fallen apart on more than one occasion.

“Ok, say we hire a vet. How on earth are we going to pay someone to keep their mouth shut about the subject of their new research project? Raph has joked about making the Turtle Titan deliver pizza for cash before, but that sounds like _a lot_ of pizzas…”

Leo gave a gentle _tsk_ , and Don considered that a victory in itself when their situation was so grave. He shook his head slightly. “I don’t know. We should ask April and Casey if they have any connections with specialised knowledge. Otherwise…”

Don waited a moment for him to continue. “Otherwise?”

Leo remained silent for a short time. “I don’t know. I started speaking before actually coming up with anything.”

It sounded like a confession, but Don was almost certain he was being lied to. Leo was generally conservative with his words, and he rarely spoke before thinking. But he let it go for now, knowing Leo was already distressed and therefore wouldn’t respond well to an interrogation of his innermost thoughts and feelings.

“Hey, are you sure you don’t want to go see what Mike and Raph are up to?” he teased, letting the topic and tone of their conversation shift.

Leo made a soft sound of amusement, but didn’t move otherwise. “I think it’s best to leave them to wear each other out, for now. I’d rather stay here,” he added, sliding his arm across Don’s plastron and squeezing him lightly.

Don resettled himself against the pillow and picked up his book again. Leo frowned slightly when he read the cover, but then slid his mask off and turned his face away. Don stared at the page without reading it as his thoughts returned to their predicament. He turned the page occasionally to disguise where his mind was.

What other options had Leo seriously considered in terms of hiring someone with the right knowledge to their cause? The only other people they really knew in the human world were Bishop, who probably had useful knowledge but would be unlikely to be helpful at this point in time, and… Karai.

Don looked down to see Leo had fallen into a light sleep, fully relaxed, showing Don he trusted him to alert him if something happened. Don stopped bothering to pretend he was actually reading and turned back to the page he was really up to, but couldn’t help the way his eyes strayed to the top of Leo’s head.

Karai was honourable, sure. But in recent years they had been responsible for the death of her father. What chance did Leo think he had to get her cooperation, even if it was begrudging, with something like this? Even if it did work out, Leo would owe her a life.

Don looked back down at his book, really seeing it this time. If they owed her a life, he was sure he knew whose she’d want in return.

And that was _not_ going to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why are they 31? Because it’s 2018, silly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the slow buildup to the shit storm.

Leo woke early, as usual. Don was still fast asleep, curled up on his front with a light frown on his face. Undoubtedly he’d been thinking about what they’d been discussing last night right before he went to sleep.

Leo had almost admitted he’d already spoken to Karai about potentially cutting a deal, but couldn’t help but wonder if he’d said too much anyway. It wasn’t that difficult to narrow down their options, and his brother was a genius.

Leo knew Donny would want to rest for a few hours yet, so did his best not wake him as he sat up and stretched. After last night, he was afraid to leave his father alone for too long, in case something happened.

Before he could even attempt to stand without moving the mattress too much, Donny was slowly blinking up at him. Leo looked down, apologetic. “Sorry, Don.”

Donny raised his head a little so he could look at the digital clock on the bedside table. “Ugh, gross,” he muttered when he saw it was just after 5:30am.

Leo gave him a sympathetic smile. “Go back to sleep. I’m just going to check on our father.”

Donny mumbled something in agreement before shifting into a more comfortable position. Leo got out of the bed before he finished settling down to give him more room. No matter how they might try to jam more than one turtle onto a single bed, it was never comfortable for long.

Leo crossed the room and opened and closed the door silently before moving downstairs. He grimaced when he heard coughing coming from his father’s room. It didn’t sound healthy at all, and the particularly bad bouts could leave him breathless for long minutes at a time. Leo passed through the kitchen only to see the tea things had already disappeared, indicating his father had probably gotten up in the middle of the night for something to soothe his throat.

Leo gently slid the shoji door open to see his father was sitting cross-legged at the low table near his bed, where he was writing something in a notebook. His father had to clear his throat before speaking.

“Good morning, Leonardo.”

“Good morning, Father. How are you feeling?” he asked as he stepped into the room fully.

“No worse, and yet no better than yesterday,” he replied honestly.

Leo nodded once before sitting at the table as well. His father had already poured tea for him, which wasn’t that surprising since Leo was generally a stickler for routine. He’d been expecting him to come in about now.

“I see.”

“Leonardo, you do understand that the end of a life is inevitable, don’t you? Surely I don’t need to recite tales about what happens to those who seek immortality?”

“No, Father. But if you do have any years of natural life left, I want to make sure you get to experience them, preferably in relative comfort,” Leo replied.

He wasn’t trying to act like a clingy child. He was just concerned about the future. And it would be impossible to accept his father’s fate if he didn’t do everything in his power to help him have a full and happy life.

“When I pass away you must make sure you and your brothers have adequate time to mourn. Things won’t be able to continue on just as they were,” his father reminded. Again.

“I know, that’s part of why I’m so worried,” Leo admitted softly. “How long did it take me to get my brothers on my side the first time?”

“Why do you think it is me who’s keeping them there, my son? Raphael and Michelangelo rarely listen to me, either,” he said and then chuckled. But that was cut short by another bout of coughing. “I believe the four of you will be able to reform into a unit that is as great as what you have now, even if it is not exactly the same. Do not worry so much.”

Since agreeing that he’d stop worrying was an outright lie at this point in time, Leo simply shrugged and looked down into his teacup.

“Leonardo, you are being a good son by looking for ways to help me. But I can sense my body is winding down in some way. I understand I cannot dissuade you from searching for a solution. But do not put the rest of this family in danger on your quest.”

That was fine. He’d made it clear that if this went ahead, it’d be between him and Karai only. His brothers would not get involved, except to help him exhaust all other options first. “I understand, Father. I don’t intend to do that.”

His father reached up to squeeze his shoulder. “Very good. Now, after having a restless night I feel I should return to bed for a little longer. Perhaps you can run the training session by yourself today? As far as fighting skills go, the only path left to you and your brothers is to seek the knowledge within, that which can’t be verbalised.”

Leo knew he was referring to finding a state of Zen through meditation. Unfortunately he was still the only one of his brothers who seemed to enjoy that sort of practice.

“I… all right. I hope you rest well.”

* * *

 

Don was sitting on the mats with Mikey’s hands on his lower shell as he pushed him forward to help stretch his legs out. Raph stood in front of them, bouncing on his toes as he alternated between rolling out his wrists and warming up his neck.

They were generally quiet in the dojo at this time of the morning, since Don and Mikey were usually only just waking up. But it seemed Raph had something on his mind.

“Leo has been moping around more than usual, huh? Is this to do with Splinter?”

Don felt Mikey’s hands shift slightly as he shrugged. He reached deeper into the stretch as he considered how much he should tell them. Don sat up again once he’d made his mind up.

“Yes, it is. It seems our father can sense his time is nearly up. Obviously Leo isn’t taking it well,” he answered quietly, knowing the subject of their conversation wasn’t that far away and that he was an expert at eavesdropping.

Mikey’s hands moved to his shoulders as he leaned closer. “Oh man, are you serious? How soon is soon?”

Raph knelt in front of them, also concerned about the answer. Don had been focused on Leo’s reaction until now, but saying it out loud like that was making him notice his own feelings on the matter. Even though their father had never really understood what he did with his spare time, he had always supported Don in applying the ways of ninjutsu to his own peculiar battlefield.

Losing him was going to hurt the entire family, of course.

“I don’t know, yet. If I had to guess I’d say a matter of months, but maybe we can consult the Utroms, Honeycutt or Leatherhead to see if they can give him any more time. I’m going to start calling around after training, but… I don’t know if there’s anything left that can be done.”

Mikey leaned into him further, bringing him into a hug and squeezing. Don couldn’t see much when he tried to look back at him over his shoulder, but knew he couldn’t be doing too well when Raph reached out to cup his face. Don took hold of one of Mikey’s forearms and gently stroked his thumb along one of them.

Mikey was usually hit hardest by things like this, at least at first. But he had a good instinctive grasp on working through his emotions. Don knew that when things became more difficult as their father’s condition progressed, Mikey would be the one in a good enough place to help him keep Leo out of a poisonous cycle of denial.

Raph, on the other hand, had always been harder to predict. His reaction would depend on a large number of factors, including how everyone else was taking it. Don supposed they’d soon find out how he would handle this one.

“All right, let’s get started soon,” Leo called as he approached the dojo. He stopped in the doorway when he saw the three of them were approaching pathetic-heap-on-the-ground status. “Guys?”

“I told them about Sensei,” Don admitted.

Leo inclined his head and approached. “Well, I was going to wait until after training. It’s difficult to meditate with a heavy heart.”

Don gave him an apologetic look. But Raph just shrugged a shoulder, turning their attention on him. “I was the one who brought it up. You know I can’t leave these things alone.”

Mikey let go of Don and sat up on his knees. “I’m gonna see Sensei.”

Leo reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head. “He didn’t sleep well last night, but he is now. Give him until midday.”

“Ok,” Mikey agreed reluctantly as he finished standing.

“Looks like we’ll have to change our plans for today, then. Instead of self-reflection, let’s focus on endurance. Grab your field equipment and we’ll run the usual route through the sewers. But no trying to skimp out early, we’ll move as a group.”

Don shifted his feet so he could use them to push himself into a standing position. Raph rose behind him and nodded.

Their field gear consisted of an awful lot more than it used to, what with how many of their missions seemed to rely on hacking something or completely destroying it these days. People, including members of the Foot clan during their gang activity, didn’t seem to like getting their own hands dirty anymore. And sometimes it was difficult for even a ninja to dodge everything a perfect, computerised defence system could throw at them, which had made better armour a necessity.

But Don had yet another addition he’d been meaning to suggest.

“Can we test out a new device?” he asked, and was glad to see Mikey’s eyes light up, subdued as his current mood was. “I’ve been working on headsets to help us communicate silently with each other, as well as computers, while on missions. Sign language is useful, but sometimes it’s too dark to see or a bad idea to move.

“With these, you just have to think about saying the words, then the headsets translate the firing of your neurons into words and transmits that to another headset. It’ll then vibrate in such a way that you can hear the message while it’s imperceptible to others.”

“Donny, that is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard,” Mikey said immediately, his mind obviously already alight with the possibilities. Both for work and play, Don didn’t doubt.

“Are you sure you want to tune into the 24/7 torrent of madness that is Mike’s noggin?” Raph asked teasingly, though he looked mildly disturbed.

“It’s not a mind reading device,” Don assured. “It takes mental effort to ‘say’ things through it. The only major problem will probably be if you have a very strong urge to say something you know you shouldn’t. But even then it doesn’t always pick it up.”

“Sure Donny, we can test them out for a bit while we’re out there,” Leo agreed. “If we can get them working reliably, it sounds like they’d be incredibly useful on missions where stealth is everything.”

And that was most of them, of course.

“Everyone gear up and meet in the living room as soon as possible.”


	3. Chapter 3

Don was feeling miserable already. He always suffered during their geared up runs. He hated running and never did it unless it was specifically for a training session like this one. To make things worse, he carried the most junk around with him by far. A selection of tools, whatever specific tech they needed for the mission, and the rolled up first aid kit were just some of the items in his arsenal.

Like his brothers, he wore a dull grey garment that was something like a wetsuit, meant to provide an extra layer of protection from both attacks and weather conditions. Over time he’d developed shoes that both protected them and allowed them to still move freely and silently. Fingerless gloves protected their knuckles, and more compact and manoeuvrable elbow and knee pads kept their joints in order. And that didn’t cover the stuff they brought out especially for particular missions.

Of course they didn’t always use their gear in training. While it was important they be able to use it properly, it would be detrimental if they came to rely on it. But the tech had helped them pull off some amazing things, and Don’s creativity wasn’t slowing down any. Though he was sure his brothers sometimes wished it would.

“I swear to god Mikey, if you keep making Microsoft Sam say the words to Pon Pon Pon at me, I am going to throttle you.”

“What? It’s not my fault it’s stuck in my head. And that I want to sing along to it,” he added with a smirk.

“Isn’t there a way for me to tune into someone else?” Raph groaned.

 _‘I see Mikey is already capitalising on its uses,’_ Leo commented over the headset.

For the sake of the test, Don had simplified things by pairing the sets off so only two would transmit between one another. It had been a matter of chance as to who was paired with who, though it seemed Raph had drawn the short straw.

Don laughed, earning himself a glare from Raph. “You know you just have to take it off and you won’t be able to hear him anymore, right?”

“Thank fuck,” Raph muttered and did just that, a little more roughly than Don would have recommended.

“But Raaaph, how am I supposed to serenade you now?” Mikey whined.

“You can start by picking a better song!”

“Better? Than that?” Mikey asked as he jumped up onto Raph’s back, making him stumble and slow down. “ _Impossible_ ,” he whispered dramatically.

“If you’re trying to get Raph’s interest, then maybe you should just stick with whatever you said last night,” Don added dryly. Now he and Leo also had to slow to a stop. Not that he was complaining.

“Oh, well all I said was that I wanted a big di-” Mikey was cut off when Raph slammed his back, and therefore Mikey, against the wall of the tunnel.

“If you’re going for finesse, maybe you should try it on someone who’ll appreciate it,” Leo quipped.

Raph snorted and folded his arms, but Mikey was still determinedly clinging to his shell. “Well what can I say? Nothing wrong with being a simple guy.”

“Aww, Leo, are you coming onto me?” Mikey teased.

Leo put his hands on his hips and shook his head. “Don’t you think we should finish training first?”

Raph smirked. “You said it was endurance training, didn’t you? So let’s find out what you can endure.”

“Let’s not get distracted,” Leo said as he turned away. But Don knew he was turning away to hide his embarrassment, not to dismiss them.

‘ _Maybe you could use a little distraction right now,_ ’ Don thought.

Leo turned his head to look at him in surprise, indicating the message had gotten across. It seemed he hadn’t expected to hear the words from him.

“Ugh, speak out loud you nerds,” Mikey complained good-naturedly.

Don ignored Mikey’s comment for now. He could sense that maybe Leo really did want something to occupy his thoughts, and maybe some confirmation that they were on his side. Don reached out to cup his face in his hands and pressed a tender kiss to his mouth. Leo’s hands hesitantly rested on the edges of his shell and he began to kiss back.

Don noticed Mikey had finally detached himself from Raph’s back while they watched them. He knew Leo didn’t like having an audience, but multiple participants was another matter entirely. Since the other two didn’t look like they’d be taking the initiative any time soon, Don urged Leo to walk backward a few steps until his shell collided with Raph’s plastron.

Leo looked up at their taller brother almost warily. Don guessed Leo was worried about what Raph’s reaction to his ‘weakness’, as it would present itself when their father passed away, would be. But as Raph reached out to rest a hand on Leo’s jaw and manoeuvre them into a position where they could kiss, it seemed that wasn’t on his mind at all.

Don took the opportunity to shuck off the heavy bags he was carrying. He stepped out of the suit but raised a brow when Mikey tsked at him.

“Did you even listen to the rules of our endurance training?” he teased. “Really, Donny, should you be carrying all that out onto the field when you can’t even show Leo a good time in it?”

“I believe we agreed that you were my backup pack mule in case of emergencies,” Don retorted as he folded his suit and rested it on top of the backpack. “Feel free to step up.”

Mikey snickered. “Who agreed to that? What a terrible idea, I’m like the laziest person here.”

Don shrugged one shoulder and stepped close to Leo. As Leo turned to face him fully again, Raph wrapped his arms around him, pinning Leo’s arms down so they were crossed across his plastron. Raph hunched over so he could leave a trail of kisses along Leo’s neck.

Leo still looked embarrassed, but he was chewing on his bottom lip and pressing his legs together, tilting his head to keep as much of his neck exposed as possible. All indicators that he wanted them to keep going.

Mikey dragged the bags around to lay against the wall and floor of the tunnel. “There, now you can all sit. Though you should probably keep your kneepads on,” he said, shooting a wink at Don.

Raph lowered himself and Leo to the ground. Don waited until they were both comfortable before moving to kneel between Leo’s knees. Mikey followed them down, still awkwardly off to the side. But of course he had a plan to fix that.

“Do you have a kiss for me too, Leo?”

Leo simply looked at him, since he couldn’t really move the top half of his body at the moment. He nodded once and only then did Mikey swoop in.

Meanwhile, Don ran his hands up Leo’s thighs, mildly frustrated that there were clothes in the way, for once in his life. He ran a palm over Leo’s general crotch area and thought he felt the tip of the stiff appendage his tail had become.

Mikey pulled away from the kiss, leaving Leo breathless with his lips slightly parted. Mikey traced a hand down his clothed plastron. “Do you want Donny inside you?” he murmured.

‘ _I want all of you,_ ’ Don heard him think through the headset. Raph was right, he really needed to find something better than Microsoft Sam for the translation back to words.

“I want all of you,” Leo repeated out loud, thankfully.

Raph made a soft sound of amusement. “I know you’re an overachiever, Leo. But I don’t think even you’re physically capable of that. How about one at a time?”

Leo shot him a helplessly frustrated look. ‘ _Obviously that was what I meant._ ’

“Then we’re going to have to get rid of this,” Mikey said, plucking the elbow length sleeve of his suit. Raph released him just long enough to let him sit up and get the zip undone before pulling the suit off his torso and redoubling his grip on him.

Don saw a more telling bulge form as Leo everted part way, though he was trapped between his plastron and the bottom half of his suit. Don ran his thumb over the end of his shaft before reaching up and pulling the suit the rest of the way down. As soon as Leo had kicked it down off his feet, Don spread his legs and rocked forward now that his own tail was growing stiff too.

Leo retreated back into himself as Don hovered over him. Don looked up in surprise when Mikey squeezed some lube over Leo’s cloaca.

Raph snorted. “If only you were as prepared for everything else as you are to have sex.”

“I know my priorities!” Mikey argued.

A partially garbled thought ran through Don’s head and he smiled down at Leo. “I think Leo agrees with you Raph. Though I’m glad Mikey has himself sorted in this, at least.”

“Hey!”

But Don ignored Mike’s retaliation in favour of positioning himself so his and Leo’s tails could connect. Leo’s wrapped around his at the barest touch. Don let their cloaca slide against each other, spreading the slick lube, before he let himself evert into Leo’s waiting entrance.

Sliding into him like this felt so good, and it was even better on the receiving end. They would only ever be able to experience this with each other. Don bit his lip as his cock entering Leo forced him to evert fully this time.

“Fuck that’s hot,” Raph growled into Leo’s neck. Don didn’t doubt he’d try to do something more if he weren’t being restricted by his clothes as well.

“Sorry Raphie, you’ll have to wait your turn,” Don teased before turning his attention back to Leo. “You ok?”

‘ _Please Donny, please…_ ’

“F-fine,” Leo murmured. Even if the voice was ridiculous, being able to hear some of his true thoughts and reactions was nice.

Don shifted his weight to get into a position from which he could thrust properly, and glanced at Mikey. He’d used his freedom to get undressed and was now holding one of Leo’s hands, the other stroking his own cock. Don turned his attention back to Leo and began to thrust into him.

Leo moaned quietly and bit his bottom lip in an attempt to silence himself. “Don’t be shy now,” Mikey encouraged. He reached out to stroke Leo’s shaft instead of his own.

“Yeah,” Raph murmured. He nibbled along the expanse of neck he could reach. “We want to hear you.”

Donnie continued to thrust to the sound of Leo’s gasps and soft moans. His breaths continued to become more uneven as the three of them worked him into a state. Leo tilted his head back and pushed his hips up into Don and Mikey.

‘ _Please, just a little more._ ’

Don shuddered as Leo clenched around him with each thrust. Leo’s hips jerked into him as he came, his seed spilling over Mikey’s hand and his own plastron. The sight and feeling was enough to pull Don along with him.

‘ _Oh yes, yes…_ ’

Raph’s grip on Leo softened, and he held him supportively rather than restraining him. Leo continued to gasp shakily, and Don realised he had started crying. He gently reached up to pull Leo’s mask down, confirming his theory with his own eyes.

“Are you all right?” Don asked softly.

‘ _How embarrassing…_ ’ Leo looked away from him and wiped the back of his hand over his eyes.

“Shit, we didn’t hurt you or something, did we?” Raph asked, running his eyes over him with concern.

Leo sighed and then tried to swallow. Don guessed he was waiting for his voice to become steadier. “No, I’ve just been stressed,” he explained shortly, but even that was more than they usually got.

“Don’t worry so much, Leo. We’ll get through this together,” Mikey comforted. “I mean, whether it happens next week or next year, we know how it’s going to end. At least we have time to prepare for the inevitable.”

Don didn’t miss the look of steely determination in Leo’s eyes before he gently removed the headset. “I didn’t drag us out here so we could think about that,” Leo reminded as he placed the curve of plastic and metal on the ground beside him.

He rolled off Raph and on top of Mikey, distracting him with a firm kiss and a hand on his dick. He pulled back again just long enough to add something else.

“But, we should probably hurry things up so we’re not gone too long. I’m sure I can take both of you at once.”

Leo had always known exactly what to do to distract Mikey, and exactly what to say to get Raph’s attention. He gave Donny a sideways look, as though daring him to say something. Don frowned in return, concerned.

_You can’t fool me._


	4. Chapter 4

“I am sorry Donatello, but I believe the assistance I could provide would be minimal at best. I wish there was more I could do for your family in your time of need,” Professor Honeycutt apologised.

Don looked up from the security camera circuits he was trying to fix so he could look at the video feed. “That’s all right, we just wanted to ask to make sure,” he replied. “I don’t suppose you know who we could talk to about whether it’s the mutagen or simply old age?”

Honeycutt made something that looked like a helpless shrugging motion. “The mutagen wasn’t manufactured specifically to mutate creatures. As a waste product, it’s unstable and its effects are quite unpredictable. I’m sure there are plenty of academics who would like to research and catalogue the effects, but it’s unlikely they’ll discover anything of use to you in the time your father seems to have left.”

Don smiled sadly. “I thought as much. I don’t think Father would find any dignity in being a scientist’s subject, though.”

“That may be so. Say, have you heard from Leatherhead recently?” Honeycutt asked.

“Yes, since he’s a little closer to home, I thought I’d go to him first. As I expected, he said much the same as you have. He seems to be doing well, though,” Don added. “Though if this is an effect of the mutagen, it sounds like it’s something we’ll all have to worry about eventually.”

“Hmm, perhaps,” Honeycutt agreed, but his next words were drowned out by a happy squeal.

“Uncle Mikey!”

Don smiled to himself. Young Bethany Jones had turned seven a few months ago. Undoubtedly little Russel was also out there somewhere, probably hanging off his mother’s pant leg. He realised April and Casey must be paying them a daytime visit because the school holidays were on.

“It sounds like we have houseguests. Sorry, but I think we’ll have to pick this up later,” Don apologised as he put the soldering iron down. It was best for him to get out of the lab before the kids tried to get in it to see him.

“So I hear,” Honeycutt joked. “All the best with the tough times ahead, Donatello. Remember that I am here if you need to talk, even if I can’t do anything else in this situation.”

“I’m grateful for that much,” Don assured as he stood. “Talk later.” He took off the headphones as Honeycutt waved at the camera. Don disconnected from the call and locked his computer before moving into the main room and locking the lab door behind him.

He was immediately assaulted by giggling when he approached the living room. “No, Uncle Raphie!” Beth shrieked as her biggest uncle chased her over the back of the couch. Sometimes Don wasn’t sure which of them was really the bigger child.

Leo was standing closer to the lair entrance where he was talking quietly to April and Casey. Casey was carrying Russel, who had his face shyly pressed into his father’s chest. Russel was three now, but he’d only met them a few times.

April spotted him approaching first and smiled, waving him over. “Hey Donny, how are you?”

“All right, given the circumstances,” Don replied vaguely.

He assumed Leo had already explained what had them down at the moment. Their sympathetic looks indicated they knew. He turned to Leo, wanting to break the news right away.

“Nothing from Honeycutt either, and he doesn’t think the Utroms know enough about their waste product to predict the mutagen’s effects.”

Leo made a sound of discontent and folded his arms a little tighter. “I see. You two wouldn’t happen to be friends with someone involved in medical research, would you?”

“Or, well, a vet?” Don added.

Casey shrugged immediately, though April thought for a little longer. But eventually she shook her head. “No one close enough to trust to be quiet about it.”

Leo looked as though he’d been expecting their answer. Don had hoped it’d take longer than a week for them to exhaust their options. He didn’t need the new headset to guess Leo was already mentally rehearsing his next meeting with Karai.

“There has to be something else we can do,” Don said. He automatically stepped back to let Beth run between him and Leo.

She hid behind Leo and hooked her fingers in his belt so he couldn’t get away from her easily. “Barlies!” she declared.

It hadn’t taken Beth long to figure out the only person Raph hesitated to tackle to get to his goal was Leo. Unfortunately for her, Leo didn’t like being used as ‘barlies’, wherever she’d gotten that term from. He took hold of her hands, partly so his swift turn wouldn’t hurt her and partly so she couldn’t run away, and turned his back to Raph.

“Uncle Leo nooo!” she despaired. “Uncle Donny, help!” He backed away, pretending to look scared.

Raph took his chance to swoop in and grab her around the middle. Raph did his best cartoon villain laugh as he hauled her onto his shoulder, belly up. He protected his face with his other hand while she flailed wildly.

“You traitor!” she yelled, dramatically pointing an accusing finger at Leo from her upside-down vantage point.

“Or was I never on your side to begin with?” Leo replied enigmatically before they disappeared round the corner, where Raph was undoubtedly going to commence tickle torture on the couch.

April looked exhausted by the exchange alone. “I’m so glad we can bring her here to use up some of that energy,” she said and then gave a small laugh. “I thought she would have outgrown all this by now!”

“Maybe she feeds off her baby bro?” Casey joked as he put the little guy on the ground. He clutched Casey’s leg so he couldn’t stray too far.

“Well, anyway, I’ll start warming up lunch and then see if Sensei would like to join us. I don’t think he’ll be getting much sleep right now,” Leo said, but not unkindly, as he looked in the direction Raph had carried Beth away in.

“I don’t know about that. He did raise the four us, after all,” Don joked.

Leo gave him a small smile before heading for the kitchen. Don turned back to their friends once he was out of sight. It looked like April wanted to say something, so he waited.

“Is everything going ok, Donny?”

Don couldn’t, in good conscience, say yes to that. “We’re managing, I guess. I’m afraid Leo is going to feel cornered and do something stupid soon, though,” he confided quietly.

From April’s expression, he guessed she’d thought as much. “I know I’ve been busy with work lately. But if you ever need anything, just let me know.”

April had founded a cyber security startup shortly after Beth had been born. Just being a mother seemed to have bored her, but it had soon become clear that Casey liked being the stay at home dad anyway. Given her specialised knowledge, Don thought he might need to corner her for a talk about the Foot network sooner or later.

“And don’t forget about me!” Casey exclaimed, puffing out his broad chest.

There was no way Don would ask Casey to get involved in a physical altercation with his new responsibilities. But he appreciated the support, nonetheless.

“How could I forget?” Don teased. “Thanks though, both of you.”

Don turned when he heard the shoji door open again. Leo shadowed their father as he made his way over to the kitchen table.

“Let’s eat, shall we?” their father said, and April approached him all smiles and nostalgia.

* * *

 

Leo sat in the rafters of one of the warehouses the Foot used for their operations. He took it as a bad sign that Karai’s ninja didn’t even question his presence anymore. If there was ever a time to strike… But of course she knew all too well that he couldn’t now.

He looked down at the door to the room she called her office when it opened. A man and his entourage walked out of the room looking pleased with themselves. Leo guessed they were mobsters of some kind, and took care to remember their faces, just in case.

Karai stuck her head out the door and looked directly at him. She stepped halfway back inside and held her office door open with one arm. Seeing the invitation for what it was, Leo jumped down onto a room divider before landing in her doorway and entering the room.

“Let’s make this quick, I need to get back to headquarters before someone else turns up to accost me,” Karai said sharply as she closed the door.

Leo didn’t know the full extent of what the Foot did these days, but it was obvious that they were supporting more gang activity than ever. From recent encounters he did know that weapons, drugs and cryptojacking were on the table, though given Karai’s history it didn’t seem they were involved in human trafficking, at least.

“It looks like no one we know can help us,” Leo explained quietly, getting straight to the point.

“So you want me to start looking for suitable people?” Karai asked as she moved back over to her desk and started shutting down and packing away her laptop. “It’s expensive to hire an academic researcher, let alone one that’s at the top of their field and willing to not publish a paper on their latest findings. Especially when the results are likely going to be limited at best.”

“We’ve been over this,” Leo replied, folding his arms.

“ _Particularly_ expensive when I have motivation to finish the job myself,” she added. “Why should I care what happens to your father when you already killed mine?” Karai tried to maintain her offhand tone, but now her voice betrayed the fact she was boiling under the surface.

“We’ve also been over this,” Leo replied, looking down at the floor now. “If you help us I’ll do whatever you want. As long as it doesn’t involve my brothers.”

“Anything?” Karai asked sceptically. “Would you kill someone if I ordered it?”

He’d obviously have hang-ups over it, but Karai knew he was desperate. “Some _one_. Not a family member.”

She seemed to have expected the criteria. “You will follow any order I give you as long as it doesn’t harm your family?”

Leo nodded. “Family includes our human friends,” he asserted.

Karai seemed to expect and accept this as well. She closed her eyes and stood straighter, holding her hands behind her back.

“And if I ordered you to kill yourself?”

Leo couldn’t honestly say he hadn’t been expecting the question. If he managed to get out of this both sane and alive, he doubted he’d be able to salvage what remained of his honour in any other way.

“I’d do it.”

Karai bowed her head and remained silent. A moment later her hard gaze held his.

“Then we have an agreement. I will get some of my staff to start working on hiring the appropriate people in the morning. I will let you know when things progress.”

Karai opened a drawer and removed a chunky rectangular device. She wrote something down before handing it to him.

“I’ll use this when I need to meet with you at headquarters.”

Leo hesitated to take it. Donny had taught them all better. It could be bugged, or having tracking capabilities.

“It’s just an old pager. You can get your brother to confirm that,” Karai assured, seeming to read his mind. “If you’re going to keep your end of our deal, then I have no reason to monitor you, do I?”

Leo picked up the device and tucked it into one of the many pockets on his belt. It was true that he could get Donny to confirm that before heading back into the lair for the night.

“I won’t ask anything too strenuous of you at first, of course. What’s the point in trying to extend your father’s life if you don’t get to see him while he still lives?”

Leo hadn’t expected any sort of mercy from her, though he knew there would be an addendum.

“After all, once he’s gone I can do with you as I please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It never occurred to me before now just how localised kids' game 'truce terms' are. And what do you mean it's not spelt 'barleeze'? My life is a lie.


	5. Chapter 5

Don couldn’t help but feel worried when he received a call from Leo telling him to meet him a few suburbs away. It wasn’t that difficult to figure out he’d gone to meet with Karai, since it wasn’t like he left the lair by himself for any other reason. Leo had said nothing was wrong with him, and to bring his tools for small electronics, but hadn’t been forthcoming beyond that.

By the time he reached the area Leo had specified, Don had worked himself up. Why did Leo always end up doing such stupid things when he acted out on his own? Couldn’t he see that this wasn’t a solution?

Don leaped from the top of the building he was on to land in the shadowy corner of the dead end alleyway below. Leo was kneeling against the back wall. He glanced up at him, not giving anything away yet. Though it was dark, Don at least couldn’t see any obvious signs of injury.

“What is it?”

Leo reached into his belt and removed a small device before handing it to him. Don took it gingerly.

“Did Karai give you this?”

Leo didn’t answer his question directly, of course. “Can you make sure it isn’t bugged or tracking our location, or anything else?”

“Who cares if it is? Just destroy it!” Don snapped, but pried the plastic casing apart anyway.

Leo started at his tone and brought his hand up as thought to protect the device. That just annoyed Don all the more, but he simply batted his hand out the way impatiently.

“If Karai doesn’t have a way to contact me remotely, then I’ll have to stay somewhere other than the lair so she can send messengers.”

Don’s hand clenched around the torch he’d just reached into his bag to grab. “Are you honestly threatening to leave if I don’t do what you want?”

Leo frowned at him, looking a little confused. Obviously he hadn’t expected Don to be angry at him, but how could he not be?

“I’m not making threats, only stating facts.”

“Oh, facts are they? Then here’s a couple more: this is the stupidest idea you’ve ever had, and you’re going to drag us all to a miserable place if you keep following this path.”

Leo shook his head. “I have made it clear to her that the rest of the family isn’t to be involved in this. I won’t let this affect the rest of you.”

“Leo, if it’s affecting you, then it’s affecting us. What about that is so difficult to understand? If our positions were swapped, how would you feel?”

“That’d be different,” Leo insisted. “I’m the leader and I’ve always acted as the oldest son, so I have a responsibility to this family. Even if it means sacrificing myself.”

Of course Leo would view the extremes he went to for filial piety as another dimension of his honour. Don had read the same books on philosophy that Leo had, mostly in an attempt to understand his brother more, admittedly. Though just like any samurai would have, Don knew Leo would claim he didn’t truly know or understand anything that he barely incorporated into his own lifestyle.

“No it wouldn’t!” Don rebutted, having difficulty remembering to keep his voice down, now. “We need you. We love you. And watching you tear yourself apart is only going to hurt all of us.”

Don went still when Leo reached out for him, but relaxed when he was just pulled in for a kiss. At first Don assumed this meant Leo was acknowledging what he’d said, but then he remembered Leo’s actions during their run in the sewer tunnels the other day. This was just a distraction.

Don turned his face away and held him at arm’s length, pushing Leo up against the alley wall again with his free hand. “That’s not going to work on me,” he hissed. “Just listen to what I have to say!”

Leo sighed, but seemed to take him at his word. “I’m not making an ultimatum because I’m trying to upset you. It’s just the way things have played out.”

Don wondered how much of everything Karai would orchestrate, and how much would just be circumstance. In any case, he decided he would yield, for now. He knew better than to attack relentlessly, but he couldn’t go entirely soft either. Something told him that if he let Leo have his way entirely, they’d never see him again.

“Let’s get underground so we can use the light without having to worry about anyone seeing us.” Not that the Turtle Ninja wasn’t a popular urban myth already, but they really shouldn’t encourage people.

He knew Leo had chosen this as their meeting spot because there was a manhole somewhere nearby, so they were soon able to make their way underground. Don got Leo to hold the torch so he’d have both of his hands to inspect the gadget. It soon became clear it really was too primitive to have any sort of location tracking abilities. What sound recording capabilities it did have seemed to be disabled, but he removed the microphone altogether to be safe.

After he snapped the casing back together and turned it back on to make sure it still worked, Don hesitated. He sighed to himself and gave the device back to Leo. At least he wasn’t being entirely reckless by actually trusting her at face value.

“Thank you,” Leo said as he carefully put it away again. “You say you all need me, Donny. But I know you know that’s not true.”

Leo folded his arms and turned away slightly, as if attempting to protect himself from Don’s incredulous scrutiny. Don replaced the tools he’d used, making sure to put them in the spot they belonged while he waited for Leo to continue.

“None of you need someone to look after or train you anymore. Our greatest enemy is dead. There aren’t impassable rifts that divide us anymore, so it’s not like you need a leader to guide you through tough moral decisions.

“You’re smarter than me and you have a natural superiority in strategy. Raph is stronger, fitter and has a greater natural inclination for weaponry and battle tactics. All Mikey needs is a kick in the tail to be my equal or greater in fighting and stealth. The three of you can survive without my interference.”

Don could barely believe Leo would think of himself in such a way. That he had a purpose he’d already fulfilled, and was now expendable? Logically he couldn’t argue with his words at face value. Of course they were trained well and could survive without him now. But then, they’d also managed to survive when Don had disappeared from the team in the alternate timeline he’d been privy to, and that hadn’t meant much in the end.

“Sure, we’d probably survive,” Don began slowly. “But it wouldn’t exactly be living, would it? Tell me Mikey wouldn’t eventually drag you back from death because he was feeling crushed by responsibility.”

Leo didn’t look amused by his weak attempt to lighten the conversation slightly. “We’ve never had an easy life, Donny. It’s been more comfortable than it could have thanks to your inventions and hard work, but never easy. You will survive.”

Don let out a sharp, frustrated breath of air as he began walking down the tunnels in the direction of the lair. “So what, you’d rather be a martyr than live through a change this big? It’s not like our father is blaming you for his condition or demanding you fix it!”

Leo remained silent, and Don knew continuing to rant at him would be fruitless. Leo was used to dealing with Raph’s outbursts, so of course he was an expert at playing the brick wall. Though it seemed the things Raph said to him did sometimes have a quiet effect on him, even though he only said them because he wanted to get a reaction and not because he thought they were even remotely true.

Thankfully the path back to the lair was fairly direct, so the trip didn’t take that long. “Donny…” Leo began as they entered the lair. Don looked over his shoulder and slowed, but didn’t stop. “It’s my responsibility to at least attempt to return some of what our father has given us throughout his life. He shouldn’t have to ask for that.”

Don had almost calmed down after the walk, but the comment was enough to get his back up again. He clenched his fists, but simply continued walking toward the staircase. He didn’t have the energy or headspace to deal with this right now. Why was it so hard to get through to his brothers sometimes? It wasn’t like Leo had to be a genius to understand this.

Don hadn’t really been paying attention to his surroundings, something Leo would probably bag him out for in training tomorrow, so he flinched when the door to the linen cupboard swung out in his face. Raph emerged with an armful of sheets.

“Sorry Don, didn’t notice you there,” he began, but trailed off when he realised Don was far too peeved for that alone to be the problem. He looked around and spotted Leo walking toward the kitchen. His eyes narrowed.

Don rubbed his forehead and tried to calm himself. He didn’t need to set Raph off as well.

“What did you say to Donny _now_?”

Leo looked up at them briefly, but seemed to decide it wasn’t worth his time as he continued on his path without responding. Raph looked like he was ready to leap down there and escalate things, so Don took hold of his arm.

“Just leave it, Raph. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

Raph backed down at his insistence and reached out to place a gentle finger against his chin and jaw. “This is about his genius idea to get Karai to help him, isn’t it?”

Don nodded slightly, once, and dropped his hand now he didn’t feel his brother needed to be restrained.

“You know you don’t have to deal with his bullshit alone, right? Mike and I want him to pull his head in, too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Don replied dryly. It seemed Leo wasn’t going to emerge from the kitchen until they went into their own bedrooms.

“Mike and I are, um,” Raph glanced down at the clean sheets he was holding, “going to sleep soon. Want to join us?” He didn’t bother to keep his voice down when he asked.

Don thought he would like the comfort, but the last thing he wanted to do now was make Leo feel even more isolated from them than he already did. “Not tonight.”

Raph didn’t look too happy with his answer, but didn’t press him further. “All right, good night, then,” he eventually said. He pulled Don into a suffocating bear hug and kissed the top of his head.

“Raph!” Don complained with a small smile. Raph released him a moment later and turned back to the path he’d been on before being interrupted. “Good night,” Don added quietly.

Don retreated to the quiet sanctuary that was his own room. Thanks to Raph he felt a sense of relief rather than one of loneliness as he let the door click shut. If he was going to find a way to knock some sense into Leo, maybe it would be best to get his other brothers involved as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every time someone says 2k3 Leo is a one-dimensional, boring and/or unnecessary character, this fic grows a little stronger :P


	6. Chapter 6

Don was keeping a close eye on his father while he recovered from the blood and other tests Don had done to provide their newly hired help with something to work with. He still wasn’t happy with Leo’s actions, but if he insisted on being an idiot, they might as well try to get something out of it until he could be convinced otherwise.

Don tapped the edge of the laptop he’d recently scrounged and rebuilt as he waited for his open source operating system of choice to install. If Leo was going to subject himself to Karai without limit, then Don needed a trump card he could pull if things got out of hand. The Foot conducted plenty of cybercrime of their own, so their network had to be hardened. It’d be prudent to start working on a contingency now.

Don looked up when his father shifted, picking up his tea. “Donatello, do you know where your brothers are now?”

“Mike and Raph have gone to Casey and April’s to watch a movie or something, and Leo is off delivering the samples. Though it sounds like Karai has demanded a test of his services tonight as well,” he replied flatly.

Leo had left his swords in the dojo before leaving the lair. It was so unusual for them to be there when he wasn’t around that it was almost a little eerie. Somehow Don doubted his other brothers were really going to stay at their friends’ place long enough for a movie, and he hoped they’d let him in on whatever they found Leo doing.

In any case, it seemed his father had asked about their whereabouts to check whether he could speak frankly. “Leonardo’s actions concern me.”

Don created an account on his newly built computer as he replied. “Me too, Sensei. It seems he’s somehow managed to convince himself the only use he has to our family now is as a martyr.”

Don connected to the wireless he had set up and started downloading and installing the tools he wanted. A network analyser, password cracker, encryption algorithm tester, and various malware analysis tools he could use to reverse engineer a unique attack vector based on a sample of someone else’s were just a few of the things he grabbed.

But he also had the advantage of having people on the ground. They could sneak into secure Foot facilities to exfiltrate data physically as well, in ways that wouldn’t leave a digital trace for their enemies to follow.

Don looked up when the silence persisted, and noticed his father seemed to be both disturbed and surprised by the revelation. “He expressed this to you recently?”

“Just last night,” he replied softly. “Now that we don’t need one person to strictly hold the position of leader, he seems to think we don’t need him anymore.”

“Leonardo rarely thinks of his needs as an individual. I admit I pressed responsibilities upon him at a young age, but I did not know how much longer I had to live, even when the four of you were just young children.”

Don turned his attention back to his computer and continued queuing up downloads for packages to expand the capabilities of the tools he’d grabbed so far. “Then maybe you need to let him know he’s not just a contingency.” He immediately wished he’d worded it a little more tactfully when he saw the look on his father’s face. “I mean–”

“I know what you mean,” Splinter spoke over him before letting out a deep sigh. “I have tried to express that he has freedom to act as an individual, but it seems my words, and the timing of them, have only pushed him in the wrong direction.”

“I guess we all thought he’d be relieved to be able to take a step back on leading us. But it seems rather than just thinking of himself as someone who happened to be the leader, he’s based his whole identity around it.”

“Donatello, in the case I am unable to help Leonardo resolve this internal conflict before I leave this world, please do everything you can to fix what I could not. I ask this as your father, not your sensei.”

Don reached around his laptop screen and took hold of his father’s hand in both of his. “Of course, Father. You don’t need to ask that of me, it’s a given.”

“I won’t take that for granted with anyone, anymore.”

* * *

 

“Keep up, Raph, or Leo’s going to notice us from all the way over there,” Mikey whispered as he waited for him to join him in his hiding spot lying flat against the roof on one of the tallest buildings in the nearby vicinity. He pulled out his binoculars and pushed his mask up before pointing them toward the docks.

Mikey was glad they were on a stakeout. The only retribution he got from his brother was a soft growl as he lay down next to him. Hopefully he’d forget about his teasing by the time they got back.

“I don’t get it. There’s so many of them, like eleven or twelve in total. But they seem determined to split into two separate groups and leave Leo to do all the work,” Mikey commented, since Raph was watching his back and therefore couldn’t see what he could.

“Maybe Karai is just messing with him,” Raph replied softly. “What if there’s so many because they’re planning to turn on him?”

Mikey gave a thoughtful hum as he watched Leo grab two of the Foot ninja by the shoulder, and drag them around to face him as he spoke. “Leo must know at least one of us is going to follow him around on his first mission, especially since it isn’t exactly a secret that he isn’t in the lair right now. Maybe Karai knows it too and is concerned we’ll try to interfere.”

“Or maybe she’s planning to take him out once he’s done whatever needs doing here,” Raph reiterated.

“I don’t think so,” Mikey replied. “If she wanted to get rid of him, wouldn’t she just…?” It was difficult to say, but Raph seemed to be oblivious to what he was trying to get at. “You know, order him to off himself?”

“If she’s so smart, then surely she must know I’d fuck her up if she tried that.”

“We all would,” Mikey assured. The ninja teams seemed to split off and do something productive by cracking open and checking the sea containers in the area. “Haven’t you noticed Donny’s behaviour lately? I’m surprised he hasn’t already.”

“That’s not how he operates,” Raph replied quietly. “He’s going to be doing everything he can to make sure it doesn’t get to that point in the first place. Even then he’ll still have something ready to go just in case shit does hit the fan.” He shifted as he looked around and listened, checking no one was trying to get the jump on them before continuing. “Leo needs to be talked down. We’re not going to be able to just drag him home.”

Mikey watched Leo unsheathe the sword on his back as he moved off to search another area. The fact he’d chosen to pick up another blade concerned him a little. If Leo didn’t have his preferred arms with him, then it meant he’d accepted the potential of doing something he wasn’t exactly going to be proud of.

The two of them lay there silently for at least another twenty minutes. Mikey was bored out of his brains since all he could see was sea containers being opened and closed again, but he made himself focus. This was important.

Finally, Leo seemed to find what they’d been looking for and brought the radio up to his mouth. Foot ninjas popped up around him as he stepped into the container, out of Mikey’s range of vision. He tensed as a couple of ninjas followed him inside, knowing that if they were going to turn on him, now would be the time to do it.

But Leo emerged safe and sound, carrying a man who looked like he might be unconscious or worse. The group moved to more stable ground before laying the man down. One of the Foot ninja took his pulse and listened to his breaths, indicating he was probably still alive. Leo took the little bottle of water off his belt as the Foot ninja who seemed to be their medic lifted the man to lean against his torso.

The dude they’d rescued seemed to be regaining consciousness, so Leo let him take a short drink from his water stash. What was it Leo was always going on about? Benevolence and mercy being one half of the qualities a good leader should have? Whatever it was, his sincerity seemed to have won the group over to his side, for now.

Leo said something else, and the teams sorted themselves out into an advance and rear guard, while the others split the duties of carrying and protecting the other guy between them. It seemed the ninja were competent, after all. They just needed someone to point them in the right direction. And Leo seemed to be more than happy to be the one to do so.

Mikey put the binoculars away and pulled his mask back down over his eyes. Raph waited patiently for him to mentally organise an explanation of what he’d seen. Mikey took a deep breath, knowing this wasn’t going to go over well.

“Maybe Karai can give him something we can’t, after all…”

* * *

 

Karai did need the ninja that had been captured back in her custody, but to be honest, she was more interested in pulling this mission together to get some entertainment at Leonardo’s expense. She’d purposely given him two units of Foot ninja she knew didn’t work well together, and told their prideful leaders he had authority for the length of this mission.

So, she was a little surprised when the entire team returned triumphant, seemingly united behind Leonardo. When the others stayed back, he took it upon himself to step forward and report on the mission.

“The intel was good. We found Shinji being held in a sea container at the docks. Security was surprisingly non-existent, though. He’s uninjured, though he seems to be malnourished and dehydrated, so I would recommend he be taken to the infirmary as soon as possible.”

With that he’d covered everything she had wanted to know about the mission. It seemed having leadership experience made him an effective subordinate.

Karai uncrossed her legs and stood a little straighter against the desk she was leaning against. She waved a hand dismissively.

“You two holding onto him, transport him to the infirmary.” As they left the room, she turned her gaze onto the team leaders, where they were kneeling in the back of the room. “I’m glad to see your teams finally managed to accomplish something together. You all may go.”

The room emptied quickly and silently, until only Leonardo was standing before her. She could sense something unusually bright and energetic about him, as though he’d actually enjoyed the mission. Perhaps he had relished the challenge of getting a team to be functional again. It concerned her a little that he had managed it so quickly, but it was also impressive, and would be useful if she could trust him to truly remain loyal.

But when his honour depended on it, she supposed it was a given. There was just one problem…

“Are you trying to usurp me, Leonardo?” she demanded flatly.

He looked taken aback by her words, and his usual stone wall-like demeanour returned. “What do you mean? I had to get them to work as a single unit if we were going to successfully extract your ninja…”

Karai grabbed him by the harness that strapped the sword to his back and pulled him in, taking him off balance. “The two captains of those teams are notoriously bad at working with each other. I’ve been trying to resolve their little prideful conflict for years. You’ve managed to do it in one night, and now I look like an incompetent.”

“That wasn’t my intention,” Leonardo said quietly, but continued looking down in a deferential manner.

“Next time you work with them, you will make your loyalty to me apparent, no matter your true feelings. And you will observe the correct mannerisms for addressing me in front of a group.”

“I… am not used to observing such formalities, but I will be more attentive in the future. I got them to work together properly by reminding them that their pride was a disgrace to the clan, and to you. So it’s not a tactic that would work in quite the same way if you tried to use it,” he explained quietly. “Once they felt ashamed of themselves, I was able to direct them with more ease. It was as though they wanted to prove me wrong. I think I made my loyalties clear, but if you’re still concerned…”

Karai raised a brow. If all that was true, Leonardo might be more use to her alive than dead, after all. But knowing his current disposition, she had to make sure she didn’t push him over the edge. And that would mean controlling her own behaviour as well. But in the long run, using him as a tool for her own ends would be more satisfying than ending his life.

Karai released her hold on him and let him step back and stand at his full height again. “If that is an accurate recount of the events, then I would say you have handled it appropriately. You may go, for tonight.”

Leonardo bowed his head before turning away and replacing the katana and sheath he’d borrowed in the bracket on her wall. He made his way out of the building, and Karai focused on the way his presence melted away into the night. Once she was sure he was gone, Karai moved to sit behind her desk and returned to her endless list of unread emails.

If she played her cards right, Leonardo would be extremely useful indeed.


	7. Chapter 7

After his father had fallen asleep, Don had moved his things into the kitchen to avoid accidentally disturbing him while he continued to work. He was just beginning to question the wisdom of making himself a coffee at such a late hour when Raph and Mikey returned home. Mikey noticed him immediately and came over to lean on and wrap his arms around him.

“What’s up?” Don asked, though he could guess. He kicked out the chair next to him, hoping it would encourage his brother to sit.

“We saw Leo playing Foot ninja,” Mike mumbled as he took the hint and sat.

“Don’t put it like that,” Raph said from behind them as he returned from dumping his gear elsewhere. He ground his knuckles into the top of Mikey’s head before taking a seat on Don’s other side.

“Yeah well, anyway, they were looking for a guy or something and found him. We followed him back to Karai’s tower of doom, but it was difficult to look into the room without being seen when all her thugs were lined up opposite us and her laptop screen was on and facing the window.”

Don’s hand paused over where he’d been about to boot up a virtual machine within his own laptop, and he turned to look at Mikey properly. “You saw her computer? Remember anything about it?”

“Umm,” Mikey began as he scratched his head.

“Was she connected to the internet?” Don prompted.

“Her emails were open,” Raph supplied, “so probably?”

Don tried not to get his hopes up since they hadn’t been there specifically to look for what he wanted to know, but he thought he might as well ask. “Did you glean anything from the text? Like, what her email address is, or who she’s currently in contact with?”

Mikey and Raph looked at each other, then they shook their heads slowly. “Sorry Donny, we weren’t really looking at the screen, just trying to avoid the light. We couldn’t stick around for more than a few seconds, either. You know how Leo seems to have an inbuilt radar for us.”

“That’s all right, just thought I’d ask.”

The three of them turned when they heard the door to their father’s room slide open and saw it was Leo checking on him after returning home. Don hoped he hadn’t listened into too much of their conversation before ‘announcing’ himself. Again, he seemed to be physically unharmed, but Don was still concerned about where his mind was.

Don’s eyes came to rest on the part of Leo’s belt where he kept his Shell Cell and Karai’s pager. He couldn’t help but wonder how exactly Karai distributed messages to it. If she used her Foot email address, then he might be onto something after all.

“He just went to sleep, Leo,” Don called softly. Not that much seemed to wake their father once he was out, these days.

He heard the door slide shut again and Leo turned to look at them. It seemed he was internally debating whether he wanted to be questioned right now. He must have realised he’d be worse off if he didn’t talk to them right away, so he approached them slowly.

“How was your night?” Leo asked before anyone else could.

“Pretty awful,” Mikey said as he stretched his arms over his head. “I thought watching you would be more interesting.”

Leo cocked his head to the side with a small frown. “I didn’t notice anything. Where were you watching from?”

“That’s for me to know, and you to find out,” Mikey teased.

Don ducked as Raph reached out to smack their brother across the back of the head, though it ended up being more of a tap. “We were watching from a distance, obviously,” Raph replied over the top of Mikey’s hammed up exclamation of pain.

“I see. Good, then. I don’t think you were noticed.”

“What do you take us for, Foot ninjas?” Mikey said in mock offense.

Leo shifted uncomfortably as the topic of their conversation danced back around to the predicament he’d put himself in. “I’m going to bed.”

“Me too!” Mikey said quickly as he stood.

“To _sleep_ ,” Leo added emphatically. He turned toward the stairs and Mikey hastily moved to walk beside him.

“Me too!” he repeated as they disappeared into the bathroom, out of earshot.

Don turned back to his computer, but Raph seemed determined to keep his attention as he slung an arm around his shoulders. “Don’t make me force bedtime on you,” he teased softly.

Don raised a brow as he continued setting up the virtual machine. Or the ‘computerception’, as Mike had once rationalised it. “If I’m going to hack the Foot network, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me.”

“Not just you, right? There’s stuff Mike and I can do too. You want to know Karai’s email address? I’ll get you her address.” Raph squeezed him further into his side, and gave him an intense look. “I don’t think Leo is going to be _punched_ out of this one.”

“If we’re going to plan on sneaking around, we may as well try to get much more than just that,” Don replied. “But we could already have something. The pager Karai uses to contact Leo might not actually be on her network, which I assume is why she chose to give him something so primitive, but if she sends messages to the pager network from her emails? Well…”

“Let me guess, that network will be much easier to crack than hers?”

Don shrugged one shoulder. “More than likely. Only one way to find out, though.”

He could practically feel the heat in Raph’s gaze as he looked him up and down. “Yeah, and remember… you need anything, you just have to tell us.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Don said as he turned back to the computer once again. Before he could reach for the keyboard, Raph had snapped it shut and tucked it under his other arm.

“Thought I told you not to make me force bedtime on you?”

Don folded his arms, though he wasn’t really that annoyed. The first thing they needed to figure out was where he should be directing his snooping, and since he doubted their IP range would be registered under ‘The Foot’, it could take a while to figure out.

“Well, you still haven’t explained what I get out of this.”

Raph gave him an intense look as the arm around his shoulders shifted to rest lower on his back, and Raph’s hand came to rest gently against his elbow. “Whatever you want.”

For the first time in what had to be about ten years, Don felt a blush bloom across his face. He automatically glanced back at the door to their father’s room to make sure they were still alone.

“O-oh?” he replied dumbly.

Raph laughed gently, the sound deep and rich, reverberating in his internal ear. “How ‘bout we go up to your room and I let you think about it on the way there?”

Raph slowly got to his feet and Don found himself following him up. It seemed to take no time at all for them to get up the stairs. Raph opened the door to Don’s room and pressed on his lower back to guide him inside. Only when the door shut behind him, and the only source of light was the red of the digital clock, did Raph advance on him more aggressively.

There was a small kerfuffle as Raph tried to push him down on the bed, but then Don decided to step around behind him and push him down face first. Raph broke his fall with his arms, but still held onto the laptop as he bounced a little on the mattress. Raph twisted around to look at him.

“Well Raphie, you did say I could have anything, right?” Don teased as he took the laptop and placed it safely on his bedside table.

Raph made a soft sound of amusement and smiled back at him. “Right.”

* * *

 

Mikey turned the tap for the shower and waited for the water to warm up while Leo shucked off the belts and harnesses he used to carry his basic equipment around these days. He could tell Raph had wanted him out the way so he could try getting Donny’s attention properly this time. But he honestly just wanted to spend time with Leo now, so it worked out.

Mikey picked up the little stool and placed it in front of him so Leo could sit within range of the showerhead. Leo gave him an apprehensive look before turning his back to him and settling down.

“What’d I do to deserve this?” he tried to joke, but he sounded far too serious.

“Um, I dunno, exist?” Mikey replied. “Besides, you seem pretty tuckered out after playing with the Foot ninjas.”

Leo folded his arms as Mikey tried to spray the water over him to get him damp enough to use soap. Covering so much of his body was decidedly unhelpful. But Leo just continued giving him the silent treatment.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Mikey said plainly. “I dunno if she said no takebacks or whatever, but honestly, what could she do if you backed out? I doubt whoever she hired is going to achieve much, anyway.”

Leo sighed, but moved his arms so that he was gripping the edges of the stool instead. “Going back on it now wouldn’t exactly reflect well on any of us.”

“So? Who are you trying to impress?” Mikey replied as he replaced the showerhead and shut the water off, for now. “Cuz if it’s me, you totally don’t need to bother. You’ve already got me there.”

But Leo’s frown only deepened. He jumped a little when Mikey laid the soapy cloth against the back of his neck and shoulder and started cleaning.

“If I can’t even stick to my own morals and expectations, then what’s the point in living at all?”

Mikey had to force himself to continue cleaning as though he hadn’t just said something awful and terrifying. Was Leo’s commitment to living really so tenuous that his honour was the only thing keeping him here? Or had things always been this way?

Was this where all those one-to-one lectures on leadership were coming from lately? Leo was trying to pass the torch. To him.

“Heavy question there, Leo. But what’s the point of anything, when we get right down to it?” Mikey didn’t know whether his own nihilistic attitude would be much better for him, and it was hard to judge his reaction when Leo’s back was to him. “I mean, the fact we were mutated at all is pretty crazy. Don’t you want to see where it goes anyway?”

“Was it a good thing, though? The life of an animal sounds like it would have involved a lot less suffering.”

“It also sounds like it’d involve a lot less brothers,” Mikey replied weakly.

Maybe he wasn’t the right one to be having this conversation with Leo, after all. Mikey paused in his motions as his hands began to shake.

Leo twisted around to look at him. Mikey saw a flash of concern before his face went blank again. Leo tugged on his hand and Mikey went along with it as he was pulled around to sit on his lap. Mikey immediately wrapped his arms around him and rested his cheek against Leo’s forehead.

Leo supported him with one arm while his other hand rested against Mikey’s thigh, the stroke of his thumb more comforting than sensual. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what would push Leo to snap, and how he could prevent that trigger from occurring.

No matter the answer, it was going to be difficult to manage while Leo was acting as Karai’s lackey. He was going to need more than Mikey weighing him down by blubbering in his lap, anyway.

“I’ll, um, leave you to finish cleaning up,” Mikey mumbled as he extricated himself from Leo’s hold. He didn’t look back as he left the bathroom.


	8. Chapter 8

Raph rubbed his eyes as he woke up in Donny’s bed for the first time in ages. He glanced down at his sleeping form, glad to see Don’s small smile. Then again, just thinking about what they’d done last night was getting him going again, though it was more subdued now that Don had reaffirmed his feelings.

Raph shuffled closer and pressed his partially everted penis against Don’s thigh, more for the intimate feeling than because he wanted to start something. Don seemed to understand this as he simply enclosed one of Raph’s legs between his.

“Morning,” Raph murmured as he pressed his face against the top of Donny’s head.

Given they would be expected to show up for training in a few hours, it was probably better to make sure his brother didn’t go back to sleep, even though he could probably use it. Then again, it’d probably take Don the rest of his life to catch up on all the sleep he’d ever missed.

Donny mumbled something incomprehensible and rubbed his face against the pillow before settling down again.

“Nuh-uh,” Raph said as he gently bumped his shoulder against Donny’s chin. “If you went to bed at a reasonable time, you wouldn’t be feeling like shit now. Suck it up.”

Don groaned, but lifted himself up to lean on his elbow. “All right, all right,” he mumbled. “At least you don’t wake me up at 5am like Leo.”

Raph couldn’t help but feel his mood shift at Don’s mention of Leo. He’d always felt some form of jealousy toward the close relationship the two of them had, though he had too much respect for both of them to not find a mature way to deal with those feelings. But now whatever was going on with Leo seemed to be getting to Raph, too.

Before Don could ask him about his extended silence, the bedroom door opened and he looked past him. Raph rolled over a little so he could see over his shoulder, and saw Mikey was coming into the room. Don reached over him and turned on his lamp while Mike shut the door.

As he got closer, it became apparent that Mikey hadn’t got much sleep at all last night. He looked defeated as he knelt by the bed and rested his folded arms on it, laying his head on top of them.

Raph pulled himself back inside his cloaca before turning over to face him properly. He felt Donny’s weight rest against his shell as he sat up so he could see over him properly.

“What’s up, Mikey?” Don asked more gently than Raph would have.

Mikey bit his lip as he thought about how to word what was on his mind, or maybe about how much he should say.

“Leo is… pretty serious about this suicide thing, huh?” Raph started at his words, but didn’t interrupt yet. “It’s like he’s only alive because living is more honourable than self-termination at the moment. Have things always been this way?”

Mike’s question seemed to give Don an existential crisis or something. He stared into the middle distance with a disturbed look on his face.

“Have… they?” he eventually asked.

Mikey made an awkward shrugging movement, but didn’t change his position otherwise. “Why not? On the whole, his way of thinking hasn’t really changed that much over the years.”

Raph frowned and shifted, realising he’d need to say something if he wanted an explanation. “Hold on, have I missed something here?”

“Leo essentially told me he plans to take his own life when he feels like he has no unfinished business left.” Don rubbed his forehead like he did when trying to recall the precise details of something from the vast amount of information stored in his head. “He’d think it’s honourable to live when it’d be easier to die, and vice versa,” he explained, “but I think there’s more to it than that. It sounds like he thinks that because we don’t really need a leader anymore, we don’t need him anymore, either.”

“I thought his ego was bigger than that,” Raph muttered.

Don frowned and shook his head. “He’s a lot more sensitive than he lets on. Maybe avoid saying things just to try and provoke him for a little while?”

Though Donny worded it like a question, Raph could tell he was actually being told off. “Will do,” he replied in what he hoped was an off-handed tone. Now he just felt guilty.

“Mikey, try not to worry so much. We still have time, though it’s hard to tell exactly how much. Even if he is feeling dishonourable, there’s no way he’ll take action before our father passes away.”

But Don’s words only seemed to make Mikey deflate further. “Great, so we might have to deal with both of them dying around the same time?”

“It’s a possibility,” Don admitted, always the realist. “But we’re not just going to sit here and wait for it to happen, are we?”

“You’ve got a plan,” Mikey said, sitting up a little. “Thank god, I think Leo was trying to get _me_ to take over his role, at least for missions.”

“ _You_? Geez, he really has lost it,” Raph teased. He was relieved when Mikey glared up at him and stuck his tongue out. That indicated he was feeling at least a little better.

“Of course I do. Just think about it logically. If the Foot isn’t operating in New York, then Leo can’t work for them, can he? It’s true Karai might try to get her revenge on us by ordering the worst of him on her way out, but if we sort this out before Father dies, then he won’t try to do it right away and we’ll have more time to change his mind without her interference.”

Mikey looked over at the bedside table where the laptop was still sitting after last night. “You’re going to bring down their network?”

“I’m just going to keep trying stuff until something sticks,” Donny corrected. “I don’t think this is going to be easy, so we might have to get creative. Think about things like wrecking their finances by changing all their banking passwords and privileges. I’m sure they have at least one site for their dodgy business on the dark web that we can deface, or at least one high-profile customer’s details we can find out and threaten to make public.”

“Oh yeah, we could pass something like that onto Tyler and his mum,” Raph added absently. Last he’d heard, they had become quite the detective duo, even if they were journalists and not cops. Though media attention was one way to get federal police involved.

“Speaking of which, we should probably keep closer tabs on people we communicate with for a while, just in case retaliation is headed their way,” Don added. “If they notice what we’re doing, I’m sure the Foot will have the capability to dig up dirt to use against us, too.”

“Still,” Mikey murmured as he got to his feet again, “I thought the Ancient One taught Leo to stop hating himself.”

“He taught him to stop resenting himself for not being able to reach his own impossibly lofty standards,” Donny corrected. “I don’t think he ever really learnt to put those standards aside and relax and enjoy life, at least some of the time.”

As he remembered all the times he’d verbally picked at Leo for one of the few weaknesses he could identify about his brother, Raph started to feel worse and worse. He knew there was a lot more to all this than the stupid things he said, but it had to have contributed.

Raph jumped a little as Mike smacked the bottom of his fist into his open palm. It was good to see he looked a little more determined than defeated now.

“Right! If anyone knows anything about enjoying life, it’s me! Maybe it’s time for me to teach him a thing or two.”

Donny made a soft sound of amusement, but reached out to put a gentle hand on Mikey’s closed fist. “Just remember that Leo’s idea of fun is very different to yours…”

* * *

 

After how upset Mikey had looked last night, Leo found himself entering the dojo somewhat hesitantly. Undoubtedly he’d have a confrontation from Raph to look forward to, as well. He mentally braced himself as he walked past the spot where his brothers were stretching.

“Hey Leo,” Mikey’s slightly muffled greeting came from where he was doing the splits against the wall.

“Morning,” Raph and Donny added in unison from where they sat opposite each other, taking turns stretching the same muscles at a level that was more suitable for them.

“Morning all,” he replied as he retrieved his swords from where they rested on the stand by the back wall of the dojo.

Leo heard Mikey’s heel brush against the wall as he switched to his other side, so decided to give him a few more moments to stretch evenly. He turned his attention to his blades and inspected the edge of one, then the other. They could both use some work, but the one he usually held in his right hand looked particularly worn, as usual.

Given he didn’t use his own blades in service of Karai, since he didn’t want them to be stained by whatever sin she was going to make him commit, it would probably be the last time he’d perform maintenance on them. He might as well do everything, then, since it was unlikely any of his brothers would have an interest in touching them after.

Leo was aware of Mikey’s approach, but didn’t really register it until he started talking. He trusted his brothers, so all of them could get away with it, most of the time.

“What’s the matter? They wearing down?”

Leo couldn’t sense a trace of the upset he’d obviously caused Mikey yesterday. It made trying to apologise for it awkward, which could be his intention.

“Yes, they’re well overdue for maintenance. I should have time to do something about it tonight.” Surely Karai had better things to do than demand his presence for every mission she organised.

“Hey, I’ll keep you company. I might even learn a thing or two. But you know, the tea shop does their major restock tonight, so we should check that out first.”

The owners of the tiny family owned business seemed to be aware of their infrequent pilfering, but they always tried to do something in return such as cleaning or leaving something in useful in exchange, so their security remained low tech. They seemed to have developed a sort of mutual understanding over the years, even if they’d never spoken directly.

Leo nodded. “All right then, sounds like a plan,” he agreed. He turned to Raph and Donny now that they were standing up as well. “We’ll start with sparring, then finish with meditation exercises. Sensei has said the only path left to us is self-teaching, so we’ll start getting used to that now.”

They had to get used to it by the time their father died, and definitely by the time he was done with all this Foot business, since there was only one way that would ever end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the suicidal references make you particularly uncomfortable, reminder that this probably isn’t the story for you. This is the least of it. It’s all downhill from here.


	9. Chapter 9

Raph couldn’t help but feel Leo had been subtly trying to provoke him during sparring. He guessed it was because Leo had been expecting him to have a reaction to Mikey’s condition yesterday, and wanted to get the conflict over with. But after what he’d promised his other brothers, Raph wasn’t going to let himself get dragged into starting a fight over nothing.

“All right, you can finish up whenever you’re ready,” Leo said gently from where he was sitting behind him.

Though Raph hadn’t been meditating all that deeply, or even on anything to do with training, he still started when Mikey flopped onto his shell next to him. “This is the worst!” he complained.

Raph rolled his eyes at the theatrics, but got to his feet anyway. Now that he’d been wrenched out of his thoughts, there was no point in continuing. He made his way to the dojo’s exit, but looked back at where Donny and Leo still had their eyes closed.

When he reached him, Mikey bumped his shoulder against his and deposited something in his hand as he passed. Raph looked down and saw what had to be the pager Don kept going on about.

“Drama queen,” Raph muttered, but Mikey just laughed.

He’d make sure to get it to Donny when he had a chance, and then hopefully back to Leo before he noticed it was gone. If not, then he could at least put it somewhere they could maintain plausible deniability.

The last thing they needed was Leo alerting Karai, accidentally or otherwise, to their intention to strike. The precautions she’d taken so far seemed to indicate she wasn’t expecting them to easily accept the way things were headed, but they still needed to hide their exact plans for retaliation as much as possible.

He just hoped that when he did notice it, Leo wouldn’t see their secrecy as some sort of exclusionary tactic. Or a betrayal.

* * *

 

Mikey wandered around the cramped store ahead of him, probably more interested in the different coloured boxes than the tea inside them. Leo moved over to the counter only to find a half dissected calculator sitting next to the paper based ledger. It seemed they’d been hoping he’d bring Donny with him this time. Maybe his brother would have time to drop by and take a look at it later in the night.

He absently patted the part of his belt that held both his shell cell and the pager. It was obvious the latter had been taken from him at some point in the day, but since it had been returned in apparently functioning order, he hadn’t bothered to bring it up.

Leo noticed most of the shelves in one section of the shop were already empty in preparation for the stock rotation. He went into the small back room to dampen a cloth in the sink, then took the chair out from behind the counter and stood on it so he could reach up to the top of the tall, narrow shelves. Leo started wiping away the dust as he listened to Mikey move around.

The task was kind of relaxing in how simple it was. And it felt different to having to clean up around home. He even found himself smiling a little as Mikey began humming a senseless tune.

Leo glanced down when he heard Mikey coming up behind him. “Ok, ok, I know you like green tea with jasmine in it. But have you considered white tea with jasmine?” he asked as he held up a small tin that had already had its lid removed.

Leo turned into a more stable stance so he could take the container and get a whiff of its contents. “I hadn’t, in particular. But this is quite nice.”

Mikey beamed at him, as he usually did when he complimented him. “I’ll see if I can find anything else interesting.”

Given all the weird and wonderful flavours around the place, Leo was a little worried about that. But the only other thing he intended to grab was their father’s favoured oolong tea.

Leo switched to sitting on the chair as he moved to the lower shelves. He took out his phone again, and decided to give Don a call. Even if he was busy now, he still might be able to come in later, and he’d probably appreciate the notice.

* * *

 

Don gave a full body flinch when he felt his phone vibrate against his plastron. Raph whipped around to look back at him with his sais at the ready, but simply smirked when he saw him grab his phone.

‘ _Nice one, dumbass_ ,’ he commented through the still not exactly reliable headset as he kept a lookout.

They were in the middle of a Foot warehouse looking for information on how they did business. He had Karai’s email address now, but of course it wasn’t hosted on the same domain as the website they probably had to sell illegal items. And that wasn’t exactly something he could just google. It’d be useful to know how they sold their services, and to who.

“Leo?” Don answered, trying to be quiet and speak normally at the same time.

“Hey Donny, Mikey and I are at the tea shop now. The owners have left out a broken calculator, probably hoping we can fix it. Do you have time to have a look?”

‘ _Looks like we’re not busted, yet,_ ’ he said to Raph before answering Leo. “I’m kind of in the middle of something at the moment. But I can take a look later tonight.” The two of them moved to another hiding spot, closer to another one of the sectioned off rooms that seemed to be an office.

“Ok, thanks. Is… everything ok?”

Before he could answer, Raph pulled him even closer to the ground and held his hand over his mouth. Since moving didn’t seem to be the best idea right now, Don could only watch Raph as he watched whoever it was that was too close for comfort.

“Donny?”

Don muted the speaker volume to eliminate the possibility of them being heard by either ninjas or someone with an augmented listening device. ‘ _Where are they?_ ’

‘ _Above. They had to have seen us, so why aren’t they attacking?’_

Don moved Raph’s hand aside and decided to risk speaking. “I’m fine,” he murmured. “Sorry, I’m just feeling a bit distracted. I’ll talk to you later, ok?”

He hung up since the phone was still on mute and he wouldn’t be able to hear Leo’s response anyway. He turned it off before replacing it in his belt, and Raph released him so they could both sit up again.

‘ _They just ran off. Maybe to get backup? We’d better make this quick.’_

Don nodded his agreement and they both rushed over to the office door. There was a PC in the back corner of the room, and filing cabinets lined the wall to their left. The room didn’t seem to be trapped with anything that would affect them immediately, so they moved inside. Don checked out the box while Raph looked at the cabinets.

Don immediately noticed the computer wasn’t plugged into a power point, indicating it probably wasn’t in current use. He didn’t exactly have time to try and get into it anyway, so he simply picked up the box itself and turned to Raph.

It seemed one of the cabinets still had a key in it, so Raph had just grabbed any folder labelled with something potentially relevant. Don only hoped their digital security was as lackadaisical.

‘ _Time to go._ ’

* * *

 

Leo couldn’t help the niggling feeling of worry that had taken up residence in his gut after his conversation with Donny. He’d quickly made his way through cleaning the rest of the empty shelves before locating his father’s favoured tea and telling Mikey that they should go back to the lair. He was strangely resistant to this since usually it was Leo who dragged him out for this and not the other way around.

“Really? But we just got here. Aren’t you curious to see how much chocolate tea actually tastes like chocolate?”

“No,” he replied bluntly.

His instincts were telling him he needed to get back to the lair now, and he was sure he’d find his other two brothers missing when he got there. Maybe Mikey was trying to stall him to give them time to get back from whatever they were up to. So he couldn’t tell if Mikey legitimately was upset with him now, or if he just looked it for the sake of his own ends. Being an avid prankster had made him a good liar, after all.

Mikey took a deep breath before standing straight again. “Ok, I get it, you’ve had enough for tonight. How about we head back and brew some of this up, then?” he asked, holding up the bag containing the portion of white jasmine tea he’d measured out.

Leo didn’t mind what they did, as long as it was back at the lair, so he was quick to agree. “Let’s.”

As they left, Leo shut the door carefully behind them. He knew Don could unpick the lock himself later if needed. Leo set a rapid pace as he moved through the streets and across building rooftops. Mikey didn’t look too concerned, only a little ticked off, so maybe he hadn’t just dragged him out here as a distraction.

When they returned, it didn’t take long for him to realise that his brothers were sitting around the table in their father’s room. They all had some sort of hot beverage in front of them and seemed to just be talking normally. Leo frowned and rubbed his forehead. Was he getting paranoid?

“They’re all fine,” Mikey said, nudging him on his way past. He took the bag of tea leaves out of Leo’s hand. “I can make this, go sit down.”

Mikey walked off before he could say anything, so Leo simply did as suggested. His family greeted him as he approached the table, but Leo just frowned at Donny.

“What have you two been up to?” Leo asked bluntly as he sat opposite their father.

Donny and Raph gave each other a sideways look before smiling back at him. “Oh, you know. The usual,” Donny replied.

Ordinarily he might believe they were hinting at being intimate, but he wasn’t so sure now. “What, leaving the lair without telling anyone?”

“Got it in one,” Raph replied sarcastically.

“I thought we’d settled this years ago,” Leo retorted, folding his arms defensively.

Raph pressed his mouth into a thin line, clearly trying to restrain himself from retaliating. Their father shifted slightly, drawing their attention.

“My sons, please, you know the rules. No arguing after 9pm,” he interrupted, dry as ever. “Now, if you please, I believe Leonardo and I need to speak alone for a while.”

It was then that Mikey entered the room with the teapot in one hand and a small stack of cups in the other.

“Better make it quick, Mikey,” Raph said, “mother and father need to talk.”

Leo turned away from Raph, tired of his nonsense. Just as Mikey put the tea down and turned away with a defeated look, Leo felt the pager go off.

“Thanks, Mikey,” Leo said, having to work hard to keep the irritation out of his voice. It wasn’t Mikey he was annoyed at, after all.

“Yes, thank you, Michelangelo. I promise this won’t take too long.”

While his brother and father exchanged a few more words, Leo took out the pager and glanced at the message. A wave of anxiety washed over him as he read the words, but he forced himself to quickly put the device away again.

Still, even as his brothers left the room and their father turned his attention to him, he couldn’t quite get the words to leave his mind.

_Meet me early tomorrow night. I’ve decided on the ‘someone’.  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter seemed a bit choppy. I wanted to experiment with scene changes a bit, but I'm not sure if it came out well.


	10. Chapter 10

Don was almost impressed by the way Leo had kept his poker face going all day. Of course, tracing the old pager messages to get Karai’s work email wasn’t the only thing he’d done before returning it. He’d also set up message forwarding to his own shell cell so he could look at anything Karai sent Leo.

The meaning of her latest message wasn’t entirely obvious, but he had enough context to be able to hazard a guess. She wanted him to do something bad to someone, and given the wording, it sounded like something she could only request once. And Leo had only ever killed once.

So Don might have to prevent his brother from doing something he’d regret tonight.

They were sitting on top of a building in the neighbourhood of the ‘tower of doom’, as Mikey had gotten them calling it. They were far away enough to not arouse too much suspicion, but close enough for him to remote into the microphone in Leo’s phone and spring into action, if needed.

Of course he left himself a backdoor into all the devices he made, even if there was a risk someone else could exploit it. But given how tiny their network was, it was easy to identify unusual behaviour. It wouldn’t exactly be easy for anyone to sneak around under his nose when there was so little traffic.

Don turned up the volume on his own phone so Raph and Mikey could hear what was going on in the meeting with Karai as well. It seemed he’d timed things well, as far as the topic of their conversation went.

“ _You saw them about a month ago, if I remember correctly. The mobsters have been hounding me for dock space, swinging wildly between bargaining and threats. I recently confirmed they want the space to expand their human trafficking ring,_ ” Karai briefed Leo. “ _Obviously I don’t want that in my own backyard. If we kill their leader, it’ll help scare them off for good._ ”

“ _So you want me to do it… why?_ ” It was a reasonable question. Karai didn’t seem to have as many compunctions with permanently removing people from her path as they did.

“ _I will do it myself if I have to. But The Shredder is quite recognisable, and I’d rather they not know where to direct their revenge right away._ ”

“ _So what, they can direct it at my brothers instead? Doesn’t that go against the terms of our agreement? And is this really the best you can come up with?_ ”

“Whaddya know?” Raph commented quietly. “He’s not just her bitch after all.”

Mikey made a hammed up sniffling sound. “He really does love us.”

Don shushed them loudly, suddenly remembering why he normally did stuff like this without his brothers in the room. He didn’t want to miss them talking about where they were going next.

“ _They aren’t exactly ninjas themselves. If they see you coming, then it’s your fault. And I don’t know what point you’re trying to make there. Apparently it was the best you could come up with to ‘deal with’ my father_.”

Mikey frowned at that. “Still doesn’t make any sense, why doesn’t she…?”

“ _All right then. But remember what I said. Some_ one.”

They began to discuss their plan in further detail, but it didn’t seem Mikey was interested in that part of their conversation, even though this was exactly what they needed to know. “Do you think Leo regrets killing The Shredder?”

“Only because he did something to disappoint Splinter for the first time in his life,” Raph scoffed. “But it sounds like Karai might get the costume out tonight, so killing him didn’t really get rid of the concept, did it?”

Don simply shot them a frustrated look as he brought the phone closer to his ear. He hadn’t heard Karai or Leo mention an address or any other useful hints yet, and he didn’t want to miss any that might come up. When it sounded like the two of them were leaving for their mission, Don gave up and turned the volume back down.

“All right, let’s see if we can spot them leaving and tail them. Leo isn’t going to kill this guy if he can help it, but it sounds like he’s not going to against Karai’s orders when it comes down to it, either. We need to figure out where they’re headed so we can run interference.”

* * *

 

It seemed Karai really did intend to only be his backup. She’d left the Shredder armour at home, at any rate. The conversation Leo had had with his father last night had failed to put him at ease after he’d received Karai’s message. Part of it may have been his father reassuring him that he forgave him for killing – since who knew how much damage The Shredder would’ve done before being talked around, if at all – but that would never be good enough for Karai.

And if by some twist of fate their roles were reversed, he couldn’t say it would ever have been enough for him either.

They arrived at the building that contained the penthouse the leader of the New York branch of the rival gang lived in. They climbed up to the smaller balcony, which seemed to be directly connected to a bedroom.

Leo noticed Karai sneer at the wealth on display before covering her face with a traditional carved and painted wooden mask. She also tied her hair back and brought her scarf up over the bottom half of her face for good measure.

“I presume you can take it from here,” she said quietly, before melting into the shadows cast by the outdoor furniture.

Leo approached the door, picking the lock as he kept an eye out for any residents coming into the bedroom he was breaking into. Unfortunately the blinds were the type that were easy to see out of, but almost impossible to see in through.

Leo crouched to the side of the glass door and slowly inched it open as quietly as possible. Once he’d made an opening big enough to get through, he stayed low to the ground as he moved inside, ducking under the blind as he went. He quickly assessed the room he was in, and noticed light coming from the crack under one of the doors, as well as the sound of running water.

While Karai might not have bothered to give him a blueprint of the apartment’s layout, she had explained the older man lived here with his wife, so now all he had to do was determine who was in there, if not both of them. He passed the walk in robe as he approached the bathroom door, but couldn’t hear anyone speaking on the other side. He decided to search the rest of the place before busting in there, but just as he was about to move away from the door, the one that presumably led into the rest of the apartment opened in front of him.

Leo immediately and silently leapt away, hiding behind some hanging clothes in the walk in robe. By the time the man entering the room had fumbled for the light switch, Leo was well out of sight.

Leo reached up to draw the borrowed sword, but paused when the implications of what he was about to use it for became clear to him. His hand shook as his finger brushed the leather wraps, remembering the last time he’d done this. Some part of his brain decided to deliver the thought that killing a human would be a lot messier than an Utrom.

The man had turned away from the robe and bathroom to look at the open balcony door. Leo guessed he had about five seconds to act before he moved close enough to Karai that she’d either finish things herself or flee the scene.

Just as Leo steeled himself and stepped out of hiding, he heard the sound of an altercation coming from the balcony. The hollow tap of wood rebounding off something solid immediately made him think of Donny’s bo staff, and once he was close enough to the glass door to see outside, he realised he’d been correct.

It was difficult to comprehend at first. How had his brothers known he was here, and why were they interfering? Both he and Karai were careful about what they put into text, and the only time they’d discussed this had been in person just now. His hand automatically hovered over where he kept his communications devices on his belt, but right now he didn’t have the time or brain capacity to piece together what exactly had happened.

Leo continued to move with the intent to strike the man from behind, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. But if his brothers sensed any hesitation, he wouldn’t make a very effective distraction at all. And he had to stop them from getting into a serious fight with Karai at any cost.

Thankfully Raph was onto him not even halfway into his strike, shoving the oblivious man out the way before taking full advantage of the fact Leo only had one blade and performing a perfect disarm. Raph kept hold of his wrist in his sai and used his other hand to fling the sword away.

“What’s going on?” the man demanded with a faintly Italian accent as he sat up and rubbed his shoulder.

“Shut it. We’ll deal with you later, fuck head,” Raph cursed. He spat at the gang leader, somehow managing to hit his forehead.

Leo supposed he could take that as proof they’d eavesdropped on his earlier conversation. Raph couldn’t stand what the gangs who roamed the streets did, let alone the upper echelons of organised crime.

But still, even now his other brothers were outside going at Karai two to one. Leo realised that if he wanted to distract all of them, he was going to have to put up more of a fight.

Raph seemed to have assumed he was ready to submit, so he reacted far too late to prevent Leo from twisting out of his grip. Leo didn’t have time to double back for the sword, so he simply ran full tilt out onto the balcony, putting himself between the fighting parties. Donny attempted to perform a sweep on him with his bo staff so Mikey could get around him, but Leo avoided it by jumping onto metal bar that surrounded the edge of the balcony. He reached over to grab Donny at the end of his strike, when he’d known there would be a gap in his guard.

Leo looked down and saw there would be plenty of opportunity for Donny to recover from a fall. All he wanted to do was slow his brothers down, not hurt them. He hauled Donny over the wall of frosted glass panes, flipping him head first so he’d fall at least one floor before getting his bearings.

Mikey, still easily distracted as ever, gaped at him in shock. But Karai still seemed determined to get her assailant now she had the chance. This time Leo put himself between his brother and Karai, hands empty but prepared to attempt to dodge around her weapon.

“What is wrong with you!?” Raph demanded as he barrelled into Leo, knocking him off balance. Leo stumbled again as Raph continued shoving him, now also with the hand grasping his abandoned sword, until Leo had also been knocked over the edge of the balcony.

The building was tall. It was a long way down. And he was already falling freely.

It’d be so easy to just do nothing.

Leo shook his head and looked for a way to slow his descent. Once Raph realised Donny was fine, he’d never forgive himself if Leo ended up permanently hurt or worse. And his father was still alive, for the present. Besides, he already had a plan for how to do that in an honourable way. His plastron might make things more difficult, but was sure there were ways around that.

Leo used the friction of his hands and feet against the wall to slow himself down so he could grab onto a balcony wall or railing without risking wrenching a shoulder out of its socket. Eventually he landed a few floors below Donny.

Leo noticed movement in the apartment next to him. Undoubtedly someone was coming to investigate the ruckus outside, so he quickly disappeared down a few more floors and leaped at the building across the street. Central Park was only a few streets away from here, the location undoubtedly expensive because it had a view of it. He decided they’d be better off hiding among the trees and shadows.

Leo looked over his shoulder to see Karai had followed him down, and his brothers were chasing after them still. He dropped down onto grass and dirt and swiftly moved into the deep shadows of a large tree. Here he was hidden from potential passersby, but his position was obvious enough for his pursuers to find him. He looked up as Karai landed on a branch above him.

“That was a complete and utter failure,” she hissed.

“ _Good_ ,” Donny replied, the first of his brothers to join him on the ground. Mikey and Raph joined him a moment later.

“Leonardo, if you can’t control your brothers, then the gloves will have to come off,” she threatened.

“Please, it’s been a month and we haven’t had so much as a progress report,” Donny retorted. “It’s hard to believe there’s any benefit to letting Leo be your lackey.”

Karai removed her mask and narrowed her eyes at them. “There’s been nothing significant to report. If you wanted to talk to my researcher yourself, all you had to do was ask. But our agreement isn’t exactly going to be plausible if things continue this way. Leonardo, how can I promise to avoid bringing your friends and family to harm if they keep attacking me?”

“This is a waste of time, so you’re not going to, you dumb bitch,” Raph began, but Leo held up a hand and stepped forward.

“I’m sorry, this is my fault. You’re right in that this makes it impossible for you to hold up your end of our agreement. I’ll accept full responsibility and make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

“Leo,” Mikey murmured, stepping forward to touch him, but Leo stepped out of his reach at the last moment.

Karai jumped down from the tree and landed in front of him. She drew her sword, but flipped it into a reverse grip before pulling her fist back and smashing the hilt into his cheek bone. Leo staggered back slightly, but didn’t make a move to protect himself from further blows. He hoped he wasn’t going to lose any teeth because of this…

“My father would have punished incompetence much more harshly, but you’re currently more useful to me alive. You will meet me again tomorrow night for a proper punishment,” she intoned. Just as Leo looked up she retreated into the darkness, probably to get away before his brothers could mount a retaliation on his behalf.

Leo flinched away when he felt a hand on his face, but Donny insistently turned his head so his injuries faced him. Even as Donny’s hands gently inspected his wounds, a quiet sort of anger seemed to roll off him. Leo knew better than to underestimate it in the long term.

“You three won’t interfere like this again,” he said with a tone of finality.

“Ok,” Donny agreed. “Not like this again.”

Leo knew his specific wording meant this wasn’t the end of it, but he didn’t see any benefit to continuing to argue about it now. He turned away, stepping back out of reach again.

“Let’s go home.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you didn’t see this coming from a mile away, this is the chapter where the rape/non-con warning starts becoming relevant.

“Um, I think Leo is pretty pissed at us.”

Don glanced up at Mikey with a brow raised. “You don’t say?”

Raph shifted uncomfortably where he was sitting next to him around the only clear patch of bench space in the lab, but Don had already chewed him out for bursting onto the scene and attacking Karai, forcing the rest of them to go along with it, so he didn’t say anything more about it. But it seemed Raph still wanted to defend himself.

“Yeah well, I thought the main goal of the mission was to prevent Leo from killing someone. Their pre-murder conversation didn’t exactly give us much to work with as far as tracking them and planning things out on our end.”

Don glanced back at his computer screen where he was looking up some domain names. “It was, I guess. But we still should have handled it better.”

“What were we supposed to do? You didn’t see because of the blinds, but if I hadn’t have moved in exactly when I did, dickhead would have been skewered.”

“It’s possible Leo just took action then because he heard us coming,” Don reminded.

But what had happened had happened. They needed to concentrate on what they were going to do next.

Mikey sighed and absently opened one of the folders of intelligence Raph had lifted during their little warehouse heist. He rested his arm on the table, then propped his chin on the crook of his elbow as he started to read.

“I could barely get Leo to talk to me openly the other night. Now he’s never going to speak to me again!” Mikey fretted.

Don noticed Raph give Mikey a sympathetic look, but he wasn’t really known for his words of comfort at the best of times. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Raph!” Mikey exclaimed as he tried to kick him under the table. “Don’t say that!”

They both stood at the same time and circled each other briefly before Raph pounced and they both fell to the ground. Don barely bothered to look up as Raph quickly bent his brother into a submission. Mikey almost somehow managed to bend himself _out_ of that submission, but then Raph got some better hooks in and took advantage of his larger mass.

Don suspected Mikey wasn’t really beaten yet, he just wanted to be held down. That seemed to be confirmed when Raph nipped at his neck and he gave a small shiver.

Don rolled his eyes as he turned away to continue exploring the contents of the box he’d stolen from the Foot warehouse. “Get a room,” he said absently, just as he recognised what the machine was.

The hardware was awesomely powerful considering the size of it, so it seemed to be the server for a website that served very little traffic. He guessed they hadn’t expected to see that many customers for whatever they’d sold through it, but the return must have been high enough to bother getting it up and running in the first place.

Oblivious to his discovery, Raph snorted and looked over his shoulder at him. “Just shut the door, then.” He turned back to Mikey and ran a hand up his plastron. “And I’m obviously joking, dumbass.”

Don got to his feet and briefly considered booting them both out of his lab. But he could see how much Mikey needed this from the way he was looking at Raph. He closed the door and turned back to them, questioning how they couldn’t have found anywhere better than the floor. He sat down in front of them, trying to get comfortable on the bare ground nonetheless.

Don reached out to cup Mikey’s face, and he immediately leaned into the touch. Don leaned closer and smiled gently. “We love you, Mike. And don’t try and fool yourself into thinking Leo doesn’t.”

* * *

 

Karai stalked into the lobby of the building that contained her clan’s main headquarters. She used her priority security pass to call down the elevator. While she waited for it to arrive, she adjusted the stiff collar of the shirt she was wearing with her business suit.

Karai stepped into the elevator, and the moment the door closed she dropped her shoulders with relief. She reached up to undo her hair from the tight bun it was in, then looked down at the small watch on her wrist. She was running late, but it wasn’t like she cared about his feelings on the matter.

By the time the elevator stopped at the thirty-second floor she’d composed herself again, and stepped out confidently. She passed the so called waiting room, not bothering to take a look at who was in there waiting to see her, and made her way to the end of the corridor where her private rooms were located.

Karai took her time getting changed into something more appropriate for ninja-related activities and then had something small to eat, not really caring if she was making Leonardo anxious. In fact, she hoped the wait was eating at him. She was far from impressed with yesterday’s events, and her anger had been affecting her presence of mind all day

Once she was ready she made her way back down the hall to the main room. Leonardo sat in the corner closest to the door where he had a solid wall at his back and side and a good view of the rest of the room and its occupants, though the only other person was the ninja on secretary duties.

He was hunched over with his elbows digging into his knees and his hands clenched by his face. She was sure his knuckles would be white if he weren’t quite so green. He glanced up at her when he noticed her presence, seemingly waiting for her instructions. She almost felt bad about what she had planned.

Almost.

“Come on, then,” she said, sliding the door open a little wider and stepping aside.

Leonardo didn’t say anything, but he followed her obediently down the hallway and into another room. She and her elite guard usually used this space to practice privately, though this wouldn’t be the first time it’d been used as a place to deliver severe punishment. Heavy blinds blocked out the windows, with the only light in the room coming from sparsely placed candles, which caused an array of shadows to be cast in every direction.

Two of her elites were already waiting in the room, sparring against each other. The white of their gi tops stood out in the darkness, but their dark hakama disguised their footwork. They quickly stopped when the two of them entered and knelt before her in acknowledgement. She noticed Leonardo hesitate behind her, as though he wasn’t sure whether he should copy their mannerisms.

At this point Karai didn’t really care what he did, so she simply moved away to retrieve the right gauntlet of the Shredder armour her men had prepared in advance. She pulled it over her hand and adjusted the straps one-handed.

Karai made her way back over to Leonardo. She slowly and deliberately drew her fist back and struck his jaw. He didn’t attempt to defend himself, or even flinch, though the blow was enough to make him go down. He sat up, but didn’t stand again, so Karai stepped in low to hit him across the face again.

The sharp edges of the metal across her knuckles cut messy, jagged lines into his skin. Blood seeped from his wounds, but Leonardo didn’t even bring a hand up to attempt to steep the flow. Then again, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t expected this stoicism.

That was sufficient for allowing his brothers to find out where they were going to be and what they’d been going to do. But at the time, he had said he would accept responsibility for his brothers’ actions as well. That meant taking the punishment by proxy, so Karai needed to hear confirmation in the moment.

“Am I to understand you are taking all of the punishment for your brothers’ actions?”

“Yes,” he stated unwaveringly.

Her two elites advanced, forcing him back onto his knees and then tying his hands behind his back. As they backed off again to stand to either side of her, Karai shifted her stance and flexed her hand inside the glove of the gauntlet.

“Ordinarily treachery from a supposedly loyal clan member would result in death. But I doubt any physical punishment I could deal to you would be viewed as an equivalent, especially when I still need your body in functioning order for further missions. So, what would you have me do?”

He simply glanced up at her, his current state of bondage seeming to make it apparent she was being rhetorical.

“Severe humiliation seems like it will have to do, for now.”

Her two elite guardsmen moved again to stand at her shoulders. Karai folded her arms and took a deliberate step back, allowing them to approach him. One of them grabbed the tails of Leonardo’s mask to tilt his head back, while the other began undoing his hakama.

Karai held her position just out of Leonardo’s line of sight, the implication behind the fundoshi fluttering to the ground more than enough, but it would be weak of her to leave the room now. Not only did she need to attempt to make the punishment proportionate, but it would also have to push him away from his brothers without sending him over the edge.

It was a delicate balance, but the only real consequence of not maintaining it would be Leonardo’s life. And wasn’t that what she wanted anyway?

* * *

 

Irma Langinstein had been… an interesting character, to say the least. Don was returning to the lair with a hard copy of the report she’d compiled on their father’s current condition in his hands, possibly more bewildered than he’d been before he’d left the lair. She was a little too enthusiastic about mutagen and the effect it’d had on them, though he could understand the necessity of needing to examine their father in person. But that would have to wait for another time.

Don paused to listen at their father’s door, though from there he felt more than heard his soft regular breaths. Satisfied, he made his way upstairs to try and find one or more of his brothers.

There was a flickering of light coming from under Mikey’s door, and Don guessed he was watching something on either the laptop or the small and ancient TV he kept in there. Knowing Raph, he probably hadn’t wanted to leave him alone when he was in such an emotional state, so it was likely he was in there too.

Don briefly glanced around at the other rooms, but didn’t see any sign of Leo having returned yet. He lifted his hand and knocked softly on Mikey’s door.

“Get in here!” Mikey’s muffled and tired voice, of course.

Don felt a small smile pull at his mouth as he did as demanded. Mikey and Raph were watching some old cartoon that seemed to mostly consist of giant robots shooting lasers. Or, Mikey was watching, at least. Raph was already down for the count, curled up under his blanket and snoring softly. Mike had the cartoon muted with subtitles provided by an awful predictive algorithm, and Don guessed that was where he was really getting his entertainment from.

“Hey, I saved you some pizza,” Mikey said conspiratorially as he nudged the pizza box on the end of the bed with his toe, from under the covers.

“Um, thanks?” Don replied, carefully placing the suspiciously light box on top of the junk that filled the surface of Mikey’s bedside table. He sat on the end of the bed, but Mikey didn’t seem to be satisfied with that. He nudged Raph until he woke up and released his vice-like grip on the blankets.

“Donny’s cold,” he said, which seemed to eliminate any sleepy resistance.

There wasn’t really room for him to squeeze between his brothers, but they brought their legs up so he could sit facing them, and turned the blanket lengthwise so it’d fit over all of them in some way.

“So, how’d it go?” Raph murmured, bringing up a hand to rub his eye with his palm.

“Good, I guess. The short of it seems to be that our father’s immune system is deteriorating from aging. The long of it is, well, in here,” he replied, holding up the manila folder. “I still need to read through this, though.”

“Eh, better you than me,” Mikey replied.

But Don noticed Raph wasn’t really paying attention to either of them. Don followed his eyes to the door and soon realised he must have heard Leo coming home.

“What’s wrong, Raph?” Mikey asked.

“I’m sure I just heard Leo walk past, but something wasn’t quite right.”

“What? As in, you’re not sure whether it was really him?”

“No, just… he’s usually more composed and stuff when he moves around. He wouldn’t shuffle his feet along the ground like that unless he wanted to be heard.”

“Maybe he’s hurt,” Don suggested. He felt a pang of guilt at what Leo might have had to go through on their behalf. “I’ll check on him.”

Don moved back into the hallway and immediately noticed that Leo had gone into the bathroom rather than his bedroom. Don frowned and went to his own room to retrieve the first aid kit he normally carried around on missions.

He tried the bathroom door and his frown only deepened when he found it was locked. Given clothing wasn’t exactly something they wore on a regular basis, and that the toilet was separate from the washing up area, the lock didn’t usually get much use. Instead he knocked and called out softly.

“Leo? Do you need the first aid kit?”

He was greeted by silence, but heard footsteps approach then stop in front of the door. Eventually, softly, “Can you just leave it there?”

“I want to help you, Leo,” Don tried, though he wasn’t sure if he’d get anything out of his brother in this state.

“I don’t want to talk about it now,” Leo said to shut him down.

Leo didn’t usually rely on physical barriers like this, and he didn’t really sound upset or defensive. Just… strange. Don decided to leave it for tonight. Maybe he just needed some time to process.

“All right, I’ll leave it here on the ground. Come get me if you need anything, at any point.” He placed it on the ground in front of the door as promised and made sure Leo would hear him walking back in the direction of Mikey’s room.

Don hoped he was making the right decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They are obviously watching Transformers...


	12. Chapter 12

Raph woke earlier than Don and Mike, as usual, and managed to roll off the cramped bed without waking them up entirely. On his way to the bathroom he didn’t realise anything was out of place until he’d sat down on the toilet. He frowned and tried to remember what he’d seen out in the hall.

It hit him while he was washing his hands that Leo’s door had still been shut. Leo generally woke earlier than all of them since he usually kept to some bizarre sleeping pattern where he got half his sleep at night and half after training during the early afternoon, but when he was up and about his bedroom door usually remained open. Even on the rare occasions he did sleep in, it’d never be for more than two hours past his usual waking time.

Once he’d given himself a quick wash over the sink, Raph made his way back out into the hall only to see the door was still closed. He hesitated for a moment, but since Don and Mike would probably be asleep for some time yet, it was kind of his responsibility to make sure nothing bad had happened. They were all on edge about Leo’s mental state at the moment, after all.

Raph walked up to the door and lightly tapped on it with his first finger. “Leo?” he called softly.

That would normally be more than enough to get his brother’s attention. But of course there was no answer.

“I won’t go away just because you’re ignoring me,” Raph said, again to no response. “I’m coming in now.”

As he opened the door – slowly, in case there was some sort of retribution aimed his way – he was relieved to see Leo lying on his futon, even if his shell was to the door. When he stepped into the room, Leo pulled the blanket up to cover his head as well, a clear signal to for him to go away.

Ordinarily Raph might have rolled his eyes at his behaviour and left, but that wasn’t going to solve anything now. Raph closed the door and moved closer, not making any effort to be quiet so Leo would definitely know he was coming.

“What’s the point in trying to avoid us? You’ll have to eat or take a piss at some point,” he said flatly. When he reached the bedside he lay down on the mattress behind Leo, making it clear he didn’t intend to move any time soon. ”So why don’t you just save us all a bit of trouble and let me know how many times Karai needs her head kicked in?”

The covers were pulled back down slightly as Leo turned partway onto his back so he could send a glare in Raph’s direction. Of course this also revealed the butterfly stitches holding multiple wounds on his face together, not to mention the bruising. Raph’s eyes immediately moved to try and inspect the rest of his body, but of course the blanket was still covering him up.

“Wasn’t expecting that to be so literal,” he muttered. “You sure you put those on properly? Donny would’ve made sure you wouldn’t scar. Unless… there’s something else you’re trying to hide?”

Leo’s gaze skittered to the side for a moment. Apparently he was having an internal debate over whether he should say something. Eventually he turned back over.

“I already told him, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So what are you going to do, hide in here forever?” Raph criticised, then immediately felt bad about saying it like that. It wouldn’t exactly help him to understand the situation. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”

Raph reached out and ran a hand down Leo’s covered arm, trying to both provide comfort and feel for anything unusual through the covers.

Leo’s reaction was immediate as he disappeared to the other edge of the futon, now in a position where he could see Raph and keep track of his actions. But Leo’s movements had been sudden, almost panicked. All he normally did when he wasn’t in the mood to be touched was tell Raph to fuck off – well, maybe not in those words – but he knew Raph wouldn’t push it if he drew a line on something like that.

“Hm, yeah, totally normal reaction there,” Raph muttered as he narrowed his eyes at his brother. “If you don’t want to tell me what happened, then fine. But stop ignoring Donny and stop being an asshole to Mikey.”

Leo withdrew into himself again, seemingly both physically and mentally. “I’m not trying to hurt them,” he murmured.

Raph could believe that. He sighed softly and reached out to gently touch the back of Leo’s hand, where it was poking out from under the covers. Leo glanced up, clearly surprised by his gentleness.

“If that’s true, then you still owe them an apology. I’ll tell Sensei you’re not feeling well, and we’ll get some training done ourselves. I can’t guarantee the two of them won’t come up here to ambush you after all that, so you’d better use that time to get your shit together.”

It was only after Leo relaxed that Raph realised how tense he always was around him. He knew he didn’t make his brother’s life easy, but it was meant to challenge him, not push him away. Leo shouldn’t instinctively get his back up whenever he entered the room.

“Get better,” Raph muttered before turning away and getting to his feet once again. He hoped it was clear he didn’t just mean from whatever injuries Karai had caused him.

* * *

 

Generally Don preferred to take his time in the shower after training, but since Raph had told him Leo might be willing to talk to him this afternoon, he didn’t waste any time. Mikey was making something for lunch, though Don suspected he was mostly making himself give them some time to talk alone, since he knew he’d be able to get more out of Leo that way.

Don knocked on Leo’s door, but entered right away. The first thing he saw was Leo replacing the blankets over his lap and looking up at him. He immediately caught sight of the cotton ball between Leo’s fingers, which seemed to be wet with something clear as well as a few spots of his blood.

Don tried to smooth the worry from his face as he approached. “How are you, Leo?”

He shrugged, not bothering to try and hide the cotton ball since he must have known Don had already seen it. Don walked around the futon so he’d be near the first aid kit as he sat down on the edge of the thin mattress. He stretched his legs out, his heels and calves pressing into the worn rug.

“Can I assess your injuries properly now?” The implication that he wanted to see whatever was going on under the blanket as well seemed to be apparent to Leo.

Leo rested his hands in his lap and turned his face toward Don so he could see that clearly, at least. He allowed Don to place a hand on the uninjured part of his jaw so he could tilt his face to get a better look.

“Is this from Karai hitting you again? I’m guessing it wasn’t with a sword hilt this time.”

“No,” he replied quietly, finally speaking. “It seems the armour doesn’t just protect her.”

“Well, you seem to have applied first aid properly there,” Don conceded as he took in the butterfly stitches. The wounds seemed to be clean and shallow enough that they’d be sufficient to get it to close properly, in time. “But you still have an open wound somewhere, don’t you?”

Leo couldn’t really deny it when his blood was staining the first aid implements he was still using. But he didn’t make a move to confirm Don’s theory, either. Don reached for the edge of the blanket and Leo didn’t stop him from pulling it back.

At first he was confused when he didn’t see anything wrong, but then a feeling of dread curdled low in his stomach before the conscious part of his brain had caught up. “I’m not going to make you talk about what happened,” Don began, “but I need to see your injury.”

Leo’s finger twitched, but eventually he uncurled his tail so Don could see his cloaca. He didn’t miss the physical discomfort the movement seemed to cause Leo. Don tried to keep his poker face in place when he saw the swelling and small tears. A few drops of blood seemed to have gathered at his opening, so if there were wounds inside as well, they seemed to have opened again recently.

Don bit his lip as he thought about the high risk of infection, and how even the instinctive movements of his tail were only going to make it worse. Of course the way they passed waste with their urine and defecate leaving the cloaca at the same time wasn’t going to help at all. While Leo seemed to have realised he needed to disinfect the open wounds because of this, Don wasn’t sure his method was going to do much.

“Have you been to the toilet since…?”

He had no idea how to put it into words when Leo wouldn’t even talk about what had happened. Whatever it was, all evidence pointed to it having been non-consensual. While the thought made him feel sick, he knew Leo wouldn’t appreciate further comments or questions about it at this point in time.

Leo shook his head slowly and looked more miserable than before. Don guessed it wasn’t because of a lack of need.

“All right, it’s not going to be nice, but let’s do that before anything else. Once you’re done I’ll help you clean and patch up, and hopefully you won’t need to go again until tomorrow morning.”

Leo nodded, but still didn’t seem to be able to look him in the eye. It occurred to Don that this was likely a result of his punishment for the three of them attacking Karai. And now rather than being mad at them for complicating things further, he was turning inward again. How long would it really be until he self-destructed?

Don desperately grasped for an idea to help stir Leo back onto a more stable path as he helped him to stand. He had to offer him something new to remind him there were things worth sticking around for.

“Leo, when you’ve recovered, will you teach me more about the sword?”

Leo looked up at him with a mix of confusion and shock. Don felt compelled to make up more of an excuse, but Leo just seemed to mull it over for a while. Eventually he nodded.

“All right. I never got a chance to perform maintenance on my blades the other night, so we can start with that. Unless you had other plans tonight?”

His inquiry sounded innocent enough, though Don knew he suspected they only planned to cause more trouble in the future. “I suppose I can clear my busy social schedule for you,” he teased.

The corner of Leo’s mouth turned up slightly as he looked away and began making his way over to the door. Any obvious improvement in his mood felt like a victory in itself. And he was going to need it to get through the next fifteen minutes or so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already made you imagine Raph on the toilet, so I'll spare you the details here.


	13. Chapter 13

Don had managed to adopt his detached, clinical demeanour for the amount of time it took him to help Leo clean up and take care of his internal injuries. But nothing had prepared him for Leo asking him whether it was possible to get an STD through oral contact. First, he should know already. Second, if any of his brothers were going to ask him that, Leo was the last one he would’ve expected it from. Then again, given current circumstances, nothing was going as expected.

Thankfully they’d quickly reached the conclusion that it was unlikely they’d be susceptible to human STDs, and in fact it was his assailants that probably had more to worry about. Their immune systems weren’t the same as an actual turtle’s, but they could brush off, or carry without symptoms, more than the average person.

Once Leo was back in bed resting, Don had headed down to his lab to do more work on his most recent project. The box he’d more or less stolen still had information about the website it used to be the server for loaded onto it. When he traced back the owners of the domain name it seemed to go to a legitimate looking company selling fashion items imported from Japan. But a little more digging had shown him this company owned a whole heap of odd, random looking domains. If this was one of the Foot’s shell companies, he might be onto something.

Another avenue he’d been exploring was Karai’s mail server, and who else used it. Perhaps he could spoof one of her trusted clan members’ addresses and get her to open something he could use to plant a foothold. He smiled as he thought about how he’d try to social engineer a message to fool her into clicking something she shouldn’t. _Five reasons we hated the Shredder and why you should too…_

But he was drawn out of his musing when Raph and Mikey entered the lab and made their way over to him. Of course he knew exactly what they were hoping to hear. But he couldn’t help but feel at least some parts of his discussions with Leo had been in confidence.

“Karai punished Leo for letting us know about what they were doing, even though that was my fault,” Don began as soon as they were in earshot. “He was also punished in our stead for turning against her.”

“Even though that was my fault,” Raph added, folding his arms and frowning down at his feet.

Don shook his head. “We can’t afford to think like that now. I’m not trying to place blame, I’m just trying to explain what I think has happened so we can do something about it. Leo still won’t talk, but I’ve gathered some evidence about what has happened to him and why he might be acting a little… odd.”

“No kidding,” Raph muttered. “I barely touched him this morning and he basically teleported to the other side of the bed.”

Don hesitated, but there was no easy way to say it. “As I said, he wasn’t just hit in the face. His cloaca suffered a lot of damage last night. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but…”

“His _what_!?” Raph demanded loudly as he took an aggressive step forward.

Don winced slightly at the volume of his voice. “Yes, but I don’t think interrogating him about it is going to get us anywhere,” he replied emphatically. “So if he seems strange about physical touch, don’t push it unnecessarily.”

“How fucking dare she?” Raph muttered darkly.

“I agree with the sentiment, but we shouldn’t plan a retaliation until we know all the facts,” Don replied.

“But how are we supposed to learn all the facts if Leo won’t talk to us about them? Have you considered Leo might be acting in a certain way to stop you from asking questions?” Mikey asked.

“Maybe, but I don’t think what I saw was acting,” Raph replied, quietly this time.

“When I say don’t push him, I also mean we shouldn’t let him push us away. That’d only benefit Karai, I’m sure. I know we’re short on time, but we need to be patient. He’s probably traumatised.”

Raph sighed and turned away, his hand clenching and loosening before turning back again. “I need to get out of here. Promise I won’t hit anyone,” he added as Mikey opened his mouth. “Not too hard, anyway.”

“If it seems like you’re not going to be back within an hour, give one of us a call so we know you’re all right,” Don said.

Raph nodded and made his way out the lab door, clearly making a beeline for the garage. Mikey looked down at his phone, still glum. “Leo will probably wake up soon, if he was able to sleep at all.”

“Mikey, I’m not saying you can’t touch him at all. Just give him space if he asks for it, like you have been recently,” Don said gently as he brushed his fingers over the back of Mikey’s other hand, which was resting on the table.

Mikey glanced up at the ceiling as he faintly heard the motorbike taking off out of the garage. “Ok, just… Sometimes I feel like I’m just making things worse.”

“I know that’s not true,” Don disagreed. “Awful things just keep happening at the wrong time.”

Mikey gave him a slight smile before looking down at the benchtop. Don glanced back at his computer, and couldn’t help but let out a small sound of amusement.

“What’s up?” Mikey asked, seemingly happy to latch onto the distraction.

“As usual, the Purple Dragons are the weakest point in the Foot organisation. And, oh, would you look at that? Several of their group leaders communicate with Karai directly.”

Don looked up as Mikey came around to look over his shoulder. He was smiling because Don was amused, but he could tell Mikey didn’t fully understand the gravity of what he’d unearthed yet.

“I can disguise an email to make it look exactly like it has come from one of these doofuses,” Don explained. “From there, we just need a little creativity to make the text inside it seem entirely legit, too. I think that’s more your area of expertise than mine, though, so can I call in a favour?”

“Of course! Just show me a heap of other stuff one of them has sent her and I’ll see what I can do. Maybe we can get Raph to do some recon and see if there’s any current issues the target person would really need to talk to her about,” Mikey suggested.

Don could see his mind was racing with possibilities and smiled gently. This was the perfect first crack in the armour for them to try and exploit, since it was legitimately something he needed his brother’s help with. He could make a decent effort on his own, but harnessing a serial prankster’s years of experience with impersonating others would make it almost certain they’d be successful.

All Don had to do was set up the back end of their attack correctly and they’d have their first foothold. “I’ll identify a target and get you some material to study soon,” Don promised.

* * *

 

Mikey had a deep frown on his face and his tongue sticking out as he did his best to line the sharpening stone thingo up with the blade of Leo’s katana. Honestly he was kind of nervous about doing something wrong and making Leo mad at him again. But so far he’d been patient and reassured him he couldn’t possibly mess it up beyond repair.

The stone in his hand was finally just about to touch the edge of the blade when his phone went off, blasting BabyMetal into the quiet room. Donny snorted where he was sitting opposite him, already well into working on Leo’s other sword.

“That’s probably Raph. I think you should get it,” he suggested dryly.

Mikey shifted his grip on the stone so he could use his smallest finger to answer the phone lying on the ground next to him. “You’ve reached the three ami-bros! You’re on speaker,” he added, in case Raph went on to say something he didn’t want Leo to hear.

“Hi,” Don said as Raph let out a tired sigh.

“Are you all right?” Leo asked. Mikey and Donny hadn’t really been able to explain why Raph had left the lair in a temper, only that he’d promised to give them a call around now.

It took Raph a moment longer than it should have to answer. Probably he wanted to ask Leo the same thing.

“ _Yeah, I’m fine. Just at April and Casey’s now and trying to get their brats to bed,_ ” he answered shortly. “ _I’ll probably stay here and come back tomorrow night, ok?_ ”

“Ok Raphie, look after yourself,” Mikey teased.

“ _If you call me that again I’ll come back to the lair right now for the sole purpose of kicking your ass._ ”

“Sleep well Raphie,” Donny added, clearly doing his best to not start laughing.

Raph gave something between a sigh and a growl of frustration. “ _Anyone else_?”

“Good night, see you tomorrow,” Leo said.

“ _Yeah, yeah, I’ll be back like I said. See ya,”_ Raph answered, and hung up before any of them could add anything else.

Leo was still looking down at the phone with his brows drawn. Donny seemed to notice this as well, so he spoke up. “Come on Mikey, if you don’t get on with it we’re going to be here all night.”

Mikey shifted uncomfortably. “Can’t I watch you do it this time, Leo? I’ll do everything myself next time, I promise.”

To his surprise, Leo relented and held his hands out for the blade and stone. “Fine, but you have to pay attention, all right?”

“Ok!” Mikey agreed quickly and scooted across the floor so he was sitting next to Leo.

From here he could see clearly, and Leo didn’t seem to be uncomfortable when he leaned in closer to take a look at what he was doing. After a few swipes he thought he understood what Leo had been getting at, but now he seemed too involved in what he was doing to teach properly.

As the repetitive motions began to bore him, Mikey’s attention wandered elsewhere. Like to the faint smell of jasmine on Leo, and the shape of his mouth.

Leo finally seemed to come back to reality and glanced up at him, noticing he was now sitting a lot closer. Mikey met his eyes, but couldn’t help the way his eyes flitted back down to his mouth again. Normally he’d just grab one of his brothers and kiss them if he felt like it, but he was mindful of what Donny had been trying to tell them earlier.

“Leo… Can I kiss you?”

For some reason Leo seemed honestly surprised to have been asked this. Leo glanced over at Donny for a moment, and Don seemed to raise his brows in return. Mikey would have to ask what that was all about later.

Leo carefully placed his sword and the sharpening tool on the ground before reaching up to gently cup his face and press his mouth against his. Mikey hummed with content as he returned the intimate gesture, relieved to have gotten this far.

It felt like a weight had lifted. As they broke the kiss, Mikey relaxed against him into his embrace. After a few moments, Leo shifted and looked down at him.

“Come on Mikey, let’s finish this up,” Leo said, putting his hand over the hilt of his sword again.

“Ok!”


	14. Chapter 14

Don stared down at his e-reader while he waited for Irma to finish compiling the data on her examination of his father. He was reading accounts from suicidal people about their life experiences and their attempts. It wasn’t exactly light reading, but he was hoping he’d be able to find something to help him understand what Leo was going through.

However, a lot of these people described their state of mind at the time as irrational, or as if they weren’t all there in the moment. While part of Leo’s thought processes and feelings of isolation and inadequacy might come under this, he was very clinical and frighteningly logical about what he wanted to eventually do. From what he’d seen so far, there didn’t seem to be as many parallels to draw as he’d like.

If it got to that point, and he tried to interrupt Leo’s attempt, his brother would probably be wrathful at best. He’d see it as an insult to his pride and honour as a fighter, not an attempt to help him.

Don glanced up at his father when he felt his eyes on him, and tried to give him a small smile despite the weight of his thoughts. Of course he didn’t buy it. He looked down and closed the notebook he’d been writing in.

“Normally I would ask what is troubling you, my son, but this time I expect it is the same as what troubles me.”

Don sighed. “Leo, right?”

His father nodded gravely. “I sense something has troubled him deeply, but rather than being forthcoming with me as he usually is, he’s withdrawing further than ever.” Splinter tapped the end of his walking stick on the ground as he thought to himself. “He is behaving the same with you and your other brothers, is he not?”

Don hung his head. “Yes, unfortunately. I have a vague suspicion about what happened, but I don’t think it’s my place to tell you. It seems the ‘incident’ has caused him to experience a lot of shame.”

“I see,” Master Splinter murmured.

They both quietened when they heard Irma was making her way back over to them. She dragged a chair over so she could sit around the same table.

“Ok, well, I guess you were expecting this but I don’t really have much good news to give. Since it’s the immune system that’s the problem, there isn’t really much that can be done. The next time you get the flu could be it.”

Don felt his stomach drop with dread. It was mid-autumn now, and winter was definitely making it known that it was just around the corner. His father had already gotten sick with a cold once this year, and probably the only thing keeping him from contracting the flu was his relative isolation.

“So, the best thing you can do is make sure anyone who comes in regular contact with him is vaccinated for this season’s flu, maintain good hygiene, avoid raw foods that are likely to contain bacteria or cause sickness, and generally stick to a good diet.”

Don glared at the tabletop as he processed the revelation. They had gone through all of this for a prognosis and recommendations he could have gotten off the internet? But he knew even if they could get Renet to zap them back in time to do it all again, Leo would still choose this path. He’d still insist on finding out for sure and exhausting every last option. In fact, he expected that even with this revelation, things were far from over.

“So, I can help develop a suitable vaccine for you and your… brothers? But unfortunately there’s not much more I can do from here,” Irma explained.

Don stood abruptly and folded his arms as he paced away from them. How could he trust the prognosis of someone hired by Karai, anyway? She could be paying Irma to lie for all he knew. He could have done this much without things escalating to this degree, and he would’ve had time to focus on trying to come up with a solution to his father’s problem instead of trying to keep Leo from jumping off the deep end.

“I can take it from here. You can tell Karai your job is done.”

Irma sighed, sounding a little frustrated. “I only took this job to get funds so I could continue conducting other research. A little over a month’s worth of work isn’t going to net me much at all. Kind of wishing I hadn’t signed a non-disclosure agreement now.”

Don turned back to scrutinise her. “Do you really think you could get away with publishing something under my nose? Do you think Karai can protect you from me?”

Irma quickly waved her hands in front of her face. “Hey! I wasn’t saying I was going to. I just wish I had the option, is all.”

Don forced himself to calm down. There was no sense in making an enemy of her. She wasn’t the one being hostile toward them.

“Well, if it’s connections you’re after, there’s one man who’d probably be very interested in meeting you now that you know more about us and the mutagen,” Don explained as he walked back over to the table. He pulled the paper and pen Irma had brought over to the table toward himself and started to write a name, an agency and a phone number. “Mention mutant ninja turtles to John Bishop and you’ll get his attention all right.”

* * *

 

Leo breathed heavily as he lay in bed on his side, pulling the blanket as close as he could. He clenched his fists as flashes from the dream he’d just been having stirred in his memory. He usually slept in two blocks to keep his sleep dreamless, but it seemed his recent experience wasn’t going to leave his mind so readily.

He knew his behaviour was making his brothers worry, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t doubt Donny had figured out what had happened to him, he just hoped he wouldn’t tell anyone else. He was feeling embarrassed and ashamed. Despite everything he’d been taught about self-defence and strategy over his lifetime, he’d still managed to get himself into an awful situation. And that was only being exacerbated by the fact he hadn’t been able to go to the toilet by himself for the past few days.

But he wasn’t expecting pity from his family. They’d probably just say he’d done it to himself. He could only be thankful Karai hadn’t summoned him again yet.

Leo was pulled from his thoughts when his bedroom door opened and Donny himself entered. “Hey Leo, how are you?” he greeted with a smile even as his eyes seemed to scan him in an attempt to ascertain his condition himself.

“Getting better.” He was glad to be able to say that truthfully. “You don’t have to play doctor today.”

Don’s smile grew a little more sincere as he closed the door behind him and then approached. “Good to hear, but I think I’ll be the judge of that,” he said as he sat down on the futon next to him, though for once reaching for the first aid kit wasn’t the first thing he did.

Leo obligingly removed his blankets and parted his legs a small way. They hadn’t had to put the dressing back in there yesterday, thankfully. Donny leaned a bit closer to get a good look before sitting back up.

“All right, you are looking much better today. No more playing doctor,” he agreed.

Don placed a gentle hand on his healing jaw and glanced down at his mouth before looking up again. Leo took the hint and wrapped his arms around his carapace so he’d be close enough for their lips to meet. Donny immediately melted against him, the kiss deepening as he moved against him insistently.

Leo shifted his legs so Don could join him under the blanket and sit more comfortably between them. As he moved, he saw Don’s tail was sticking out stiffly from under his shell, a clear sign of arousal.

Leo wondered how long he’d been pushing down his desire. Donny had been holding him at arm’s length since he’d started using intimacy to distract his brothers from what was happening between him and the Foot.

Leo pressed his mouth against Donny’s neck and let a hand trail down his plastron, though he hesitated before moving around to stroke Don’s tail. He couldn’t help but feel dirty and ashamed after what had happened, and didn’t want to somehow transmit this to Donny and make him uncomfortable.

“L-Leo… You don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable,” Donny murmured against the side of his head. “I don’t know exactly what you went through, but…”

“No, I trust you,” Leo replied softly against his neck. “It’s just, I don’t want to make you feel the way I do?” he tried to explain.

“If it’s any consolation, I do want you to touch me. Though I don’t want to inadvertently do something that’ll bring a bad memory to the surface. So will you give me some idea of what happened so I can avoid that?”

Leo made sure to use one arm to hold Donny close so he couldn’t lean back and meet his eyes. He bit his lip as he tried to decide what to say and how much. As he continued to hesitate, Donny reached out to loosely hold his other hand.

“Leo, you don’t have to be embarrassed. I still respect you,” Donny assured, his assessment of Leo’s headspace surprisingly astute. Perhaps he and Mikey had discussed his behaviour at some point.

“Well… Once Karai finished punching me she got two of her elites to take over,” Leo began. “They tied my hands and made me sit on my knees. Then one of them put his…” He hesitated, not quite sure how to go on. He didn’t want to relive it graphically, but Donny had asked for an explanation. “…in my mouth.”

Donny’s hand stroked the back of his neck as he leaned against him, waiting patiently for him to continue. Leo was glad to have the support, though given the questions he’d been asking his brother about sexual health, he’d probably already guessed at that much. Leo took a steady breath in through his nostrils before continuing.

“Eventually he moved away so the other one could push my face into the ground and try to enter me. Obviously they didn’t use lubricant, and my own member was still retracted, so… it hurt a lot.”

“They managed to cause enough physical damage,” Donny murmured bitterly, pressing a kiss to his temple. “But none of it seems to be permanent, at least. Was there anything else?”

Of course there was. “After a while the stimulation caused my penis to evert, and they realised the passage was suited to something larger than a human one. There were these candles around the place, some of them thicker than others, not all of them lit, thankfully. But they used one of the thicker ones t-to…”

“I think I get it, Leo,” Don assured him softly, letting him know he didn’t have to continue.

“Well, after all that I was left to clean up and make my own way home.”

“Thank you for telling me what happened. I was afraid you were going to say they put something sharp in you,” Don admitted. “But if your skin only split near your entrance, we don’t have to worry so much about an infection developing somewhere we can’t see.”

Leo was glad he seemed to have taken it relatively well. But then, he’d been the one Leo had pegged as most likely to do so. “Donny, can you not tell the others the details?”

Donny finally drew back a little so their eyes could meet. He studied Leo for a moment before nodding. “All right, if there’s no medical concerns I guess there’s no immediate need to say anything else. But we’re here for you if you need anything, ok?”

Leo let his hand shift from the back of Donny’s thigh and stroked over Don’s member. “I’m glad to have you all,” he murmured. “Let me pleasure you.”

Donny traced his thumb over the corner of Leo’s mouth as his hips gently thrust into his grip. “I love you, Leo.” Donny leaned down and kissed him again, focusing on pleasuring his lower lip.

Leo froze and glanced over as he heard his door open. Raph stood there with his bike helmet under one arm and a plastic bag hanging from the fingers of his other hand. He was still wearing his leather jacket, dark jeans and boots he used to both protect himself in the event of a fall and disguise his appearance in traffic.

He clearly hadn’t expected to find them like this. “S-sorry,” he said quickly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him automatically. “I found something you might like,” he added as he approached and dumped the plastic bag next to them.

The bag smelled slightly of garbage, so Leo hesitated to take a peek inside. He was pleasantly surprised to find several of his favourite chocolate bars inside. He didn’t eat sugary food all that much, but when he did, it was when he had these available.

“Thanks, Raph. I might need a bit of help getting through all of them, though.”

Raph snorted and put his now free hand on his hip. “I’m sure Mike can help you there.” His hand tightened as he seemed to remember what had been happening before he’d come in. “Anyway, sorry about barging in. I’m glad you two are getting back to normal.”

Leo glanced at Donny, who seemed to be studying him carefully. “Why don’t you stay, Raph? It’s been a long time since you and Leo did anything either.”

Raph didn’t seem to be against the idea, but he glanced at Leo as he replied. “Is that just a trick to get in me again, Donny boy?”

“Only if you want it to be,” he teased back.

“Yeah right,” Raph replied as he slid his boots off and dumped his helmet on the ground.

He knelt on the mattress behind Donny and grabbed his hips. Don let out something like a small squeak as Raph slid him back so he was lying on plastron, his head now a lot closer to Leo’s lap than his face and his backside pressed right up against Raph.

“Seeing me dressed like this makes your dick hard, doesn’t it? Makes you want me in you.”

Raph reached around and rubbed his palm against Donny’s member, making him gasp and his face warm up. Donny glanced up at Leo questioningly, even as he gently rocked into Raph’s touch.

“I don’t think I’m quite recovered enough to do to you what I want to,” Leo admitted softly, stroking Donny’s cheek even as Don grasped onto his member in return. “But I trust that Raphael will be able to satisfy you in the meantime.”

Raph growled gently as he surged forward and pressed his mouth to Leo’s. “Just tell me what to do, boss.”

Leo was suddenly overwhelmed by a bittersweet feeling. He cupped Raph’s face and smiled up at him. “Oh, so _now_ you’re willing to listen to me.”

“Hmm, it’s a limited time offer, so you’d better make the most of it,” Raph teased. He remained poised and ready and Leo’s mind filled with possibilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can make myself type ‘garbage’ instead of ‘rubbish’, but I’ll never be able to write ‘fall’ instead of ‘autumn’ XD
> 
> Sorry this chapter kind of cuts off in a weird place, but if I'd put the whole scene in this chapter there wouldn't have been an update until like next week.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Let Leo say dick_

Leo reached down and took hold of Donny’s hands as Raph backed up again. Don looked up when it was clear he was trying to get his attention.

“It feels all right to be everted like this, but if you move me around too much it might start to hurt. So just go gentle, ok?”

“You say that like I wasn’t already going to,” Donny replied quietly as his hand slid to the base of Leo’s member, holding him as still as possible.

Donny left a trail of kisses along the underside of his shaft and Leo inhaled sharply when his mouth closed over the head. Leo let his hand brush over the back of Donny’s neck, across his shoulder, before finally coming to rest on his bicep.

Raph leaned forward again, leaning on one hand while the other traced the ridges of Donny’s carapace. “Where’s the lube, Mister Always-Be-Prepared?”

Donny drew off Leo before turning to look over his shoulder. “Well, I didn’t actually come in here to have sex, we just sort of…”

The pair of them looked to Leo expectantly. Leo flushed even as he reached back under his pillow, fumbling between the head of the futon and the wall it was pressed against. He soon found the small tube of personal lubricant he kept hidden there. Unfortunately it was definitely on the empty side.

Raph smirked at him. “What, is this what you use to put the stick up your ass every morning?”

Leo could see Donny was amused by that, but he was tactfully trying to keep his mirth to himself. Leo sighed, but decided to humour them.

“Don’t be silly, that would imply I take it out at some point.”

Raph laughed so hard at that he snorted a little. “Damn it, why didn’t I think of that?” he commented as he shook his head. “Anyway, tell me what you want me to do already.”

“Are you even going to be able to prepare him properly with that much?” Leo asked as he watched Raph squeeze out as much of whatever was left as he could.

He spread the blob across his fingertip and shrugged. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Besides, you’re already excited and pliant, aren’t you Donny?”

“It’ll be fine. Raph knows my limits,” Donny assured him.

Leo nodded, trusting Donny to know his own as well. He turned his attention back to Raph. “Prepare him carefully and enter him slowly, then we’ll take it from there.”

Raph tilted his head and smiled at him again. “Whatever you say.”

While telling Raph what to do to Donny made for an interesting change of pace, Leo also realised it was a lot more comfortable than trying to do it himself so soon after what had happened to him. And not just in a physical sense.

Don’s mouth returned to the end of his member, the stimulation pulling him back into the moment. Leo squeezed Donny’s arm gratefully, and he got a soft but knowing look in return. Don’s eyes closed and he gasped as Raph pressed into him slowly.

“You ok?” Raph grunted as he stroked a hand over Don’s hip.

He hummed the affirmative, making Leo’s member twitch in his mouth. Donny shifted a little, getting up on his elbows and knees so he could continue the blowjob more comfortably.

Leo felt his hips twitch forward at the smooth, sensual feeling of lips and tongue against him. He immediately froze and stared down at Donny worriedly. Normally he wouldn’t be concerned since Donny wasn’t exactly shy about complaining when something didn’t sit right with him, but the situation was somewhat reminiscent of what had happened to him. Donny simply glanced up at him and squeezed his thigh, the gesture immediately comforting.

Donny gave a small moan as Raph pulled back slightly and then slid into him more deeply than before. Leo watched his thighs and arms tremble at the sensation.

“Ok, now what?” Raph asked from where he was sitting back on his heels.

“Come closer,” Leo replied. “Rest your weight on him. Stay in deep and rock back and forth.”

As Raph pressed his weight against him, Donny released Leo’s member and lay flat against the mattress. His head came to rest on Leo’s thigh and he moaned softly once again as Raph set a gentle yet firm pace.

Donny brought a knuckle to his mouth and bit down softly as Raph continued to move steadily within him. Leo wished he could be the one causing him to feel that way, but he was content to know his brothers could bring one another satisfaction.

Raph rested his cheek against Donny’s carapace and looked up at Leo as he continued to move, seeming to have noticed his gaze. “What, you just want me to keep doing this forever?”

Leo smiled at him and shrugged slightly. “I don’t think Donny would have any complaints to make about that.”

“Not a complaint, but you could go a bit faster,” Donny mumbled around his knuckle.

“Yeah, _maybe_ I could,” Raph sassed in return, but he complied anyway. Raph had difficulty denying Donny of anything for too long. “Just don’t get any of your spunk on my clothes this time.”

Leo shook his head slightly, deciding that perhaps there were some things his brothers should keep to themselves after all. “You have such a way with words, Raph.”

“Pfft, shut the fuck up,” he grumbled.

But Raph’s breaths were getting short now. From the way Donny was straining back against him, Leo guessed they were both getting close. He gently traced the side of Donny’s face, and a moment later he moaned softly as he came into the tangle of sheets that was still partially tucked under Leo’s leg. Raph followed him with a grunt, pressing deep against Donny as he shuddered.

As he waited for them to recover, Leo placed a gentle hand on each of their carapaces and stroked a thumb along the edge. Raph opened an eye and squinted up at him before nudging his forehead against the back of Donny’s head.

“Hey Genius, you forgot something,” Raph teased.

Soon figuring out what he was referring to, Donny looked at Leo’s partially flaccid member.

“Next time,” Leo said, taking hold of the hand he’d raised slightly. “If you’re feeling tired, then you should sleep.”

Donny didn’t seem to have the energy to argue with that. Raph gently withdrew from him and back into his own cloaca before pulling his jeans back up.

“Hey, I got stuff to do, then I’m gonna check on Mikey,” Raph explained before bending down to plant a kiss on Donny’s lips.

“Good night,” he replied softly.

Raph carefully bundled up the soiled top sheet, seemingly intent on taking it with him. Before he could stand and make his way out of the room, Leo rested a hand on his arm. Though he might make a show at getting mad at Mikey for calling him a softy, Raph did like the intimacy afterward the most. But Leo knew that if he said anything, he’d just bring up checking on Mikey again.

“Good night,” Leo added, letting his hand slide off his arm again.

Raph nodded and scooped up his helmet and boots before leaving the room. Donny moved to lay against the pillow beside Leo, instead of on his thigh, which allowed Leo to lie back down as well. But Donny’s words about why he’d come into his room in the first place were still bothering him. Leo rolled onto his side as best he could.

“So, what did you come in here for originally?” he asked softly.

Donny shifted beside him, seemingly to give himself time to think of how to word his response. “I wanted to let you know Karai’s scientist has basically said our father is definitely terminal, and has just suggested normal treatment options. So you might as well call off whatever agreement the two of you made.”

“It’s not that simple, Donny,” Leo replied reluctantly. He didn’t like watching the contentment on his brother’s face turn to concern.

“Why not? You’ve done her bidding for long enough. If you don’t think that’s true, you should raise your prices. You shouldn’t be underselling over twenty-five years of training,” his brother joked miserably.

Leo sighed, searching for a way to explain his predicament so that Donny would understand. Or at least understand where he was coming from. “This isn’t about our father anymore, Donny. I don’t know if it ever was.”

Leo glanced up to meet Donny’s eyes, trying to gauge his reaction and understanding.

“It’s about hers.”

* * *

 

Karai stabbed at the page down key of her laptop keyboard with a deep frown on her face. Her security operations personnel were reporting that an email that appeared to have come from a Purple Dragon had passed through their network gateway. The message had made it to her inbox, but the problem was that an internal message shouldn’t have had to pass through their gateway at all.

Either it meant they had an infrastructure problem, or someone was trying to get in from the outside by sending fake messages. She’d summoned the purported sender to her office, who was now sitting in a chair opposite her and rubbing the back of his hand nervously. Karai didn’t mind that he was uncomfortable. If he was involved in this in any way at all, she needed to know the truth.

“Here’s the message. Do you recognise it?”

The man hunched over to examine the screen and quickly shook his head. “I swear I didn’t send this. I was planning to update you on that shipment soon, but I haven’t even compiled all the data yet.”

Karai took her time responding even though she already believed he was telling the truth. He was one of the more loyal gang members, which would make him a good target for a particularly determined and sophisticated attacker. The number of people who had both the expertise and desire to do something like this to her was very small. And most of them were related to Leonardo, she was sure.

Of course she had always known his brothers would be a thorn in her side eventually. The ideal outcome for her would be to have Leonardo in her ranks, but it was becoming more obvious that his brothers would rather disobey him than let him go. If Donatello truly was the problem, then she knew she’d have to draw this fight out from behind the computer screen before he tried something more drastic. He might be a technological genius, but when isolated from his brothers, there was no way he could stand up to her in a physical fight.

“Very well, you may go,” she dismissed the man still sitting nervously before her. He seemed to slump in relief before scrambling out of the chair and fleeing from her office in as dignified a manner as possible.

The first thing she had to do was conduct an investigation to find out how exactly they had gathered enough information to almost sneak in under her nose. Then she could focus on a strategy to shift the playing field.

Already something was telling her that Leonardo would make good bait.


End file.
